The Ancient Fuse Evolution
by Krominicon
Summary: Splay, a one thousand year old demon has awoken from his coma and is bent on destroying every living thing on the Earth. He is more powerful than he was a thousand years ago and intends on seeing his goals through and there is only two hero's who can stop him. Will they be able to? Or will the Earth be plunged into it's darkest days?
1. Prologue

Prologue

I sat under a tree, my head pounding; shivering uncontrollably from the oppressive cold. Sitting in the middle of an endless forest, as the snow lightly fell around me. The constant convulsions were getting worse and worse; I decided that staying here was not going to help, I need to move.

"Brrr; why did he leave me here to die?" I wondered.

I knew whining wasn't going to help me at all, so I sat up and stared into the darkness of the ever green trees. I stood up, my back aching from sitting curled up in the soft powdery snow; my headache didn't help the situation either.

I slowly started walking, increasing my pace little by little. For a good long while, the only sound I heard was the sound of my own footsteps and the snow crunching underneath. I folded my arms and started moving them up and down, trying to create friction to warm my freezing body.

Suddenly, a low, ominous growl made me stop in my tracks.

"Oh no," I said under my breath, that I could see clearly in front of me. "This is it; some giant Pokémon is gonna jump out and tear you to pieces, Riolu."

I fell to my knees, hurting them in the cold snow. I sat and waited as the growl soon got closer as my end neared me. I turned my head just enough to see what was behind me. A massive Arcanine was slowly crawling towards me in a ready to pounce position.

I turned my head back to face forwards. I closed my eyes and listened to the soft footsteps of the Arcanine. The low growl turned into a ferocious roar.

He pounced.


	2. Chapter 1

i finally updated this, with a large amount of help from Jack Storm 448. go and check out his fan fics, they're pretty great.

Chapter 1

Diantha

I shot awake in a cold sweat, and sat there panting heavily for several moments. I lifted my paws and looked at them, noting how perfectly the soft pink skin in the middle was. I looked around and realized it was still dark.

_"What time is it?"_ I thought to myself.

I glanced at the alarm clock that sat between me and my trainer, Ethan Wilson. I looked over at Ethan, noting how his body moved up and down steadily as he breathed in his sleep.

I tried to steady my breathing, but I wasn't doing a very good job.

_"Okay Lucario, you can do this,"_ I told myself, "_Just, calm down."_

Lucario was my name, and what I was. I don't know how old I am, or if I had a better name at one point, but we just celebrate my birthday on the day Ethan found me as a Riolu.

I laid my head back down on the pillow, and tried to go back to sleep, but I was too afraid of having another nightmare.

_"That was a terrible dream too,"_ I thought.

I glanced back at Ethan wondering if I should wake him up. I decided not to; I could tell him in the morning. I turned my head back towards the ceiling, but I kept thinking of that nightmare I had just woken up to.

_It was so freaky,"_ I thought. _"It was almost as if it was real."_

I closed my eyes and let my thoughts wander unattended. Fatigue soon took over, and there was nothing I could do to fight against it, so I let it put me into another sleep; this time, it was blissfully dreamless.

* * *

><p>The next morning was just like all the others in my life; Ethan woke up early to make breakfast, of course me and Ethan never really had to go to school because of how much money Ethan has. <span>(Sense; that doesn't make it.)<span> Most of the reason Ethan has a ton of money, is because he never really spends it; oh, and he's the champion of Kalos. That might have something to do with it.

I usually slept in late, really late, so Ethan always yelled at the top of his lungs from kitchen of our small house. And today was no exception.

"LUCARIO! BREAKFAST IS READY!" Ethan shouted loud enough to wake a Snorlax.

I opened my eyes as the delicious smell of eggs and toast entered my nose, and made my mouth water. I threw the sheets off of me, and ran downstairs as fast as the slippery wood floors would allow.

"Thanks; it smells amazing!" I said quickly.

"Good," Ethan said, smiling.

I grabbed a plate from the cupboard, with some difficulty on account of having paws, and set it down on the counter in the middle of our kitchen. Ethan loaded my plate full of eggs, and then placed two pieces of toast on top of them. I took a long sniff of the delicious food, then dug my fork in gratefully; the food tasted even better than it smelled.

As I chewed, I noticed that Ethan was still in his pajamas.

_"That must mean it's Saturday"_ I thought; I don't keep track of the days very well, since it usually just doesn't seem important.

In the middle of our meal a knock came from the door.

"Ugh, it's probably a bunch of girls looking for an autograph," He grumbled.

Being a celebrity brought all sorts of people, the news usually, trying to see what was going on in Ethan's life. It did turn out to be a girl, but not the one he had expected.

"Oh, it's you again," Ethan said to Diantha. "Have you come to 'reclaim' your right as champion?"

"Yes, I have," Diantha said sarcastically.

"Well then go away."

We weren't overly fond of Diantha, but she completely loathed us. After I totally destroyed her and her Pokémon, she felt like she wasn't the champion anymore. Even though, technically, she was; we didn't wait in some giant castle all day for someone to come and challenge us, and no one ever did. Taking on challengers was her job.

"You do know that I won't leave you alone until I beat you, right?" She said smugly

"Yeah, and you do know that's never gonna happen, right?" Ethan snapped; he hated the fact that she knew where we lived.

"Well then, why don't you prove it?"

* * *

><p>Before we went into the D.I.Y. battlefield in front of our house (Ethan still in his pajamas), Ethan knocked on Asher's door; Asher was our neighbor, and he just so happened to be a professional referee.<p>

I stood ready on our side of the field, with Diantha staring at me as if she hoped she could knock me unconscious by force of will.

"THIS WILL BE A ONE-ON-ONE MATCH," Asher shouted, a little too loudly for just two people. "THE BATTLE WILL BE OVER WHEN ONE OF THE COMBATANTS IS UNABLE TO CONTINUE. BEGIN."

Ethan signaled for me to step onto the field, and I did so.

Diantha threw a poke ball into the air and yelled, "Go, Arcanine."

That made me pause.

_"An Arcanine?"_ I thought to myself.

I stepped opposite of the Arcanine and stared him down. I'd learned a long time ago not to underestimate an enemy, or overestimate either. I rooted myself there, and we waited; we both sat patiently waiting for our trainers to make an order.

"Lucario, Earthquake!" Ethan shouted.

I raised my fist into the air, and pushed down with everything I had. Once I made contact with the Earth, the ground shook violently. The Arcanine was launched a few feet into the air from the shockwave, taking heavy damage already.

Diantha scowled.

"Get up, now! Use flamethrower!" She yelled angrily.

Arcanine got up clumsily; he had immense amounts of rage radiating off of him. Even without my ability to sense the aura of others, you could see it in his eyes. The same rage that drove the Arcanine in my dream. He opened his mouth wide, and let loose a huge tongue of flame at me.

"Dodge it, Lucario." Ethan said, yawning; he had no doubt as to my ability to do so.

I jumped into the air just before the fire made contact with me.

"Good, now use Flash Cannon Lucario."

I did so, and shot a shining beam of concentrated energy straight at Arcanine.

Arcanine flew right into Diantha, knocking it unconscious. I landed exactly where I had been before and smiled, knowing what Diantha's reaction would be.

"ARCANINE IS UNABLE TO BATTLE, LUCARIO WINS; WHICH MEANS THE VICTORY GOES TO ETHAN!" Asher yelled.

Diantha struggled to return Arcanine to his poke ball, then she yelled, "This isn't over Ethan, you hear me? NOT OVER!"

With that, she stomped off, shoving Asher to the ground.

"Well, isn't she a big baby; sheesh," Asher said under his breath.

Diantha turned on her heel and glared at Asher, who raised his hands in innocence.

I was still thinking about the Arcanine that Diantha had, when Ethan said cheerfully, "Let's go Lucario; breakfast is getting cold."

When we got inside, I was surprised to see that my food was still warm.

"That battle was faster than I thought," I said.

"Not very surprising if you ask me; you're crazy strong, Lucario," Ethan said, smiling at me; I smiled back.

After we got showered and ready for the day, we decided to go and visit Ethan's sister, Krorrina. She's the gym leader of the Shalour City Gym. Our house wasn't too far from Shalour, so we could walk there easily. We talked a little as we walked down the asphalt road that led from our house to Shalour.

"Remember, you can't talk to anyone; not even to Korinna, okay?" Ethan said.

"Yes I know; you've been telling me this ever since I was a Riolu," I said rolling my red eyes.

"I know, but I'll keep reminding you; because one day you're going to forget," Ethan said, looking me in the eyes and smiling. "And when that day comes, I am going to say, 'I told you so'."

"Whatever," I said rolling my eyes again.

As we neared the gate for Shalour City, we stopped talking, for fear that someone would hear me.

We walked through without any problems from the desk person that sat in all the gates. We exited the gate and walked through the road towards the huge Shalour City gym. As we neared the gym a little girl exited the building.

Her head hung low, making her brown locks of hair cover her face. From our point of view, she looked like she was only eight or nine.

"Hey!" Ethan shouted to the girl.

She looked up at us, her face definitely looked eight or nine. Her dress made her bright green eyes pop out.

"Did you lose to Korrina?" Ethan asked as we got close enough not to yell.

"Yeah," She said looking down at her shoes again. "My Flying types were no match for her Hawlucha."

"My sister's Hawlucha is pretty strong." Ethan said apologetically.

The little girl's eyes went wide.

"Your Korrina's brother? So that means..." She trailed off.

"That I'm the champion?" Ethan said finishing her sentence. "Yeah, I suppose I am."

This made her eyes get even wider.

"Can I have your autograph?" She asked enthusiastically.

"Sure," Ethan said hesitantly.

Ethan didn't really like giving out autographs, as it made too much of a commotion in town. That's why we live outside of Shalour City.

The little girl pulled out a notebook that said 'Autographs' across the front of the cover. Ethan opened it to the first page and saw only one name he recognized; Korrina. He signed his name right under hers and handed the notebook back.

"Thanks!" the girl said; then she skipped off, having already forgotten the battle she just lost.

Ethan smiled ruefully, and we turned towards the gym.


	3. Chapter 2

i updated this chapter with tons of help from Jack Storm 448. he is the one who actually edited it and fixed them. i just added what i thought would be a good idea.

Chapter 2

Lysandre's out

Ethan pulled the door open, and we went in; as we entered, a loud boom echoed from the arena where Korrina would be battling another challenger.

We kept on walking, in and saw a short, blond haired boy in a fighting stance. He shouted a command that was lost by another loud boom and a huge plume of dust.

As we sat down in the bleachers to the side of the arena, we saw the boy's Zangoose; it could hardly stand.

"Let's finish this Hawlucha, Flying Press!" Korrina shouted to her famed Pokémon.

This landed directly, as Zangoose was too slow to react, no matter how loud the trainer yelled. The Zangoose went down, and the brown haired trainer fell to his knees and returned the Zangoose to its Pokeball.

"That was a good battle," Korrina said, reaching her hand out to shake his.

The trainer glumly got up and shook her hand, and then turned toward the exit.

Korrina put her hands on her hips and sighed, then she looked around the gym and saw us. Her face immediately brightened; Ethan and her sister had a very good relationship, considering the fact that Korrina took care of Ethan for more than half his life, because their parents died in a car crash when they were both young.

"Hey!" She called out. "How's it going?"

"Good, how about you?" Ethan replied as we hopped off the bleachers.

"Oh, you know the usual, battling challengers all day," She said, sighing again.

They talked for a little bit longer, but none of their conversation really had any meaning to me. I scratched my chest idly, right around the short sliver spike that protruded from there.

I looked back at the two siblings when something Ethan said caught my ear, but I didn't quite catch it. Korrina nodded her head in agreement and started walking to the other end of the battle field. I looked behind me and saw Ethan walking to the opposite end. Then I knew what was about to go down.

I followed Ethan and stood in front of him waiting for Korrina to choose her Pokémon.

She pulled out a poke ball and threw it into the air and yelled, "Go Lucario!"

_"Oh great,"_ I thought._ "Did she have to choose her Lucario."_

But I just stood there, not complaining out loud.

Korrina's Lucario landed just ten yards away, and I glanced back at Ethan; he nodded and fiddled with the Mega Ring around his wrist.

"Ready?" Ethan asked.

I nodded and looked back at my opponent.

"Mega Evolve!" Ethan shouted as he pushed the button on the ring.

I could feel the energy from Ethan spilling into my body, and making me transform. I glowed for a moment, then a loud echoing boom clarified that I had finished mega evolving. I looked down at the changes that had just happened; my body's fur was changed to a goldish yellow, and my feet and hands had changed to a red. The spikes on my wrists had gotten bigger, and a second set had grown behind them; same with the ones on my feet.

I looked up and saw that Korrina had done the same thing with her Lucario. I looked at my opponent, and he looked back; I had a feeling that he knew how this was going to end.

"Bulk up Lucario." Ethan said.

I flexed my arms and could feel my strength growing.

Korrina shouted to her Lucario, "Use power up punch!"

Lucario dived at me super-fast, but I jumped right at the last second, feeling the link between me and Ethan telling me to dodge. As I floated right above Korrina's Lucario, he looked up at me and saw what I was about to do.

"Lucario, now use close combat!" Ethan shouted.

At that order, I dived downward and smashed my fist against my enemy's back making him yell in pain as he fell, and slid to the other end of the field.

I spun around quickly, as to not expose my back to my opponent. I watched as the other Lucario tried to stand; he managed to get back to his feet, but just barely. He stood there and wobbled, not making a move. I knew that this battle was over, so I didn't attack. Lucario looked at me with those blue eyes, I could sense that he was in a lot of pain from that hit.

I continued to watch, and when he began to lurch forward, I bolted towards him and caught him from falling into the floor. I held the majority of his weight as I waited. Both Ethan and Korrina watched me hold up the other Lucario, and Korrina finally realized that the battle was over; she pulled out her poke ball and returned him.

A sarcastic clap coming from the bleachers caught my attention. I looked up, to my dreadful surprise, to see Lysandre. Lysandre was a terrorist who was put in jail after me and Ethan beat the tar out of him and his Team Flare goonies.

"Very good job, Lucario; I am impressed, as usual," Lysandre said, smiling evilly.

Ethan gave him the death stare, as if he was trying to melt him with his imaginary laser vision.

"What are you doing out of jail, Lysandre?" Ethan growled at him.

"What do you mean?" Lysandre said looking as calm as ever. "I thought you knew that they let me out."

"No, I didn't," Ethan said with obvious distaste in his voice. "And I seriously don't believe you."

"And I can understand why you would not trust me when I told you this," Lysandre said changing his voice into a sadder tone. "But you still should; everything I tell you right now is only the truth. I only ask that you answer my questions in truth as well."

"Fine, I will listen," Ethen said, shooting Lysandre another laser death stare. "But that doesn't mean I'll believe everything I hear."

"For starters, I know some secrets that I bet you wouldn't like in the public," Lysandre said.

This made me listen for sure.

"So," Lysandre continued, "If you don't want those secrets out on the internet, then I suggest you listen carefully." Lysandre no longer had his calm demeanor, "I have a friend who, if anything happens to me, will immediately press the 'post' button; and the entire world will know your secrets." Now he was sounding even more evil.

Ethan began to tap on his thighs, like he did when he got really nervous.

"What do you mean by, 'secrets'?" Ethan asked.

Without a word, Lysandre started walking down from the bleachers.

When he finally got close, I stepped in between them.

Lysandre smiled again, "You can step out of the way now, Lucario. I won't hurt Ethan, if that's what you think is going to happen."

I still didn't budge; I just stood there, looking into Lysandre's unnaturally red eyes.

He leaned forward really close to my face but I didn't flinch; I could smell his breath, and believe me, it didn't smell very great.

"I know your secret as well, Lucario; I don't understand why you don't just talk to me directly."

I froze.

_"This is bad, very bad"_ I thought; letting a little bit of surprise leak onto my face.

Lysandre nodded his head, and backed up one step. I stepped out of the way, and let Lysandre talk to Ethan. I glanced at Korrina from the corner of my eye; she looked very worried.

"And now for you Ethan," Ethan cringed.

"Dude, your breath smells awful," Ethan said, a little too loudly.

Lysandre scowled at Ethan, and Korrina stifled a laugh.

"This is not a time to mess around, Ethan; I know what you and Lucario can do together," Lysandre said; Ethen's face went pale.

"Why don't you give a little demonstration?" Lysandre said, loud enough for Korrina to hear him.

"Demonstrate what Ethan?" Korrina said.

I backed away and released the energy holding me in my mega form, changing back to my normal form. I looked at Ethan, trying to see what was going on in his mind.

Ethen sighed, "Okay then." He started grinning, "Are you sure you want to see it?"

I have no idea what would be so amusing, Lysandre's blackmailing us.

"Yes, of course I would. That is a ridiculous question," Lysandre said way too eagerly.

Ethan sighed, again, then backed a good seven steps from Lysandre. He steadied his breathing to a slow in and out. He looked at me, he was still grinning. But I knew that he was totally serious about this.

A stab of nervousness and giddiness went through my gut; I suddenly had butterflies in my stomach.

Ethan closed his eyes and cleared his mind. We waited for a moment before we started.

He grabbed my hand in his right hand and put it over the mega ring.

"Three, two, one, GO!"

I pushed down on the mega ring, and instantly I was overwhelmed by the sudden rush of extreme power pumping into my body. I fell down to my knees and yelled, doing my best not to explode. Then the flood ended just as suddenly as it had started. I looked up at the scared face of Lysandre, then I stood up and looked down at myself. There were a lot of features that were different from my mega form; my arms had a very visible blue glow around my paws. I also spoke with a voice that didn't seem like mine; more like mine and Ethan's combined.

**"You see it now?" **I said.

Lysandre looked like he just wet his pants, "Yes I do see it, and I am not very surprised."

This last comment wasn't very convincing.

**"Good, because you look like you just wet your pants,"** I said, trying my hardest not to laugh.

Korrina, on the other hand, couldn't hold in her burst of laughter. I turned and looked at Korrina; she looked utterly shocked, and amused at the same time.

"I didn't think that anyone could still do that," She said, a little out of breath.

This made me tilt my head in confusion. But before I forgot, I turned and faced Lysandre again.

**"Why are you still here?"** I asked in a threatening tone.

Lysandre tried to reply, but couldn't really because he just kept on stuttering.

**"Whatever, I don't really care; just leave,"** I growled and raised my paw, which held an Aura Sphere.

Lysandre got even paler, then he started backing away, "W-w-well, just re-remember; you're n-not the only one who can do that f-f-form of mega evolution."

This startled me; as far as we'd known, Ethan and I were the only two who were able to do this.

"What do you mean, we're not the only ones?" I asked. "We should be the only ones in the world who can do this."

"Well, there is one other you obviously don't know about," Lysandre said, seeming to have regained control of his voice, "And he's going to be a great king for this world."

At that comment, Lysandre bolted for the door and got out a poke ball. I tried to chase him, but when I got outside he was already flying away on a Flying-Type Pokémon I couldn't identify.

_"Crap,"_ I thought. _"This is really bad."_

Just then, Ethan's thoughts interrupted mine.

_"What do you think he's planning?"_ he asked

_"You know perfectly well I have no idea."_

We walked inside, and saw Korrina had moved to the lobby and was waiting for us.

"We need to go to my house," she said angrily, "Now."


	4. Chapter 3: Questions and Answers

Sorry guys if this chapter is super short and insignificant. I was in a short writers block and thought that some of the questions you might be having just need to be answered. so just bear with me here. but i promise if you keep on reading it will get a lot more interesting, i plan on putting some pretty crazy plot twisting, so just follow it so you get the updates and new publishes.

i do not recommend skipping this chapter if that is what you're thinking, i will answer some questions that you might have. if you have anymore just leave a review and i will try to put that into my story. (Maybe). if you still have questions just pm me and i will just answer those to the best of my abilities without spoiling anything dramatic.

so enjoy, or not, however you want to put it.

(Update notice:2) i will put this update thing on most of my chapters. it just says what i put in each update. if you don't think it's a good idea then just tell me and i will take them out.

anyway to the update stuffs. i added a bunch of stuff one person in particular, jack storm 448, pointed out. his help was pretty awesome. so you guys should go and check out his story's. they are just as awesome as he is.

anyways, here it is. enjoy, hopefully.

Chapter 3

Questions and Answers

Korrina just watched us expectantly as we sat on her couch in her living room. We were still in our combined form; I haven't exactly come up with a name for the form with me and Ethan combined.

**"Hi,"** I said cheerfully.

Korrina covered her smile with her hand.

**"So, do you have any questions?"**

She just nodded, not trusting her voice. Her first question didn't surprise me.

"How did you find out that you two could do Fuse Evolution?" She asked

**"What evolution?"** Neither me nor Ethan had any idea what 'Fuse' evolution was.

"Fuse evolution," Korrina said. "It's an ancient form of evolution that would require two people; a human, and a Pokémon that could Mega-Evolve. There were only three people in history that could do it. One of them was evil, and had learned how to do it alone, but no one knows how." Korrina was silent for a moment then said, "Do you want to know the whole back-story from like, a thousand years ago?"

**"That would be helpful."**

"Well, like I said, it started around a thousand years ago. We think that the two people who discovered Mega-Evolution, a man and his Lucario, also learned about Fuse Evolution. But no one is certain, because there were only a couple of times people saw him use it. And those accounts also stated that he had immense power of the aura, as in he knew how to gain an unlimited source from the living things around him. Even straight from the Earth itself; but being able to do this, others naturally wanted this power too. So, tons of people and Pokémon tried, but only one succeeded, and he found out how to do it himself without a partner. He was a Blaziken. But Blazikens don't usually have much power over their aura. So this Pokémon had to find a new way to harness his new found power. In his research he found a book that was wrapped in chains. When he opened the book, it released a new evil into this world; Dark aura. No one knows where it came from, or who could've created such an awful thing.

Dark aura possessed any who tried to control it, and ended up controlling you instead. When the helpless Blaziken saw his wrong doing, he tried to end it with the only other two fuse evolving people. But he was too late; the Dark aura had already taken over his body. The Dark Aura caused havoc for the people of ancient Kalos. He destroyed entire cities without much effort. Nobody could do anything, so they all went into hiding. Not even the two Fusers, as people call them, could do anything. For years they waited, until finally his power depleted and he went into a protective coma. Nobody knew where his sleeping body was buried, if it was even buried. Many scientists tried to solve this mystery, but to no avail. Even to this day, no one has any idea where he would be." Korrina finished her story with a sigh and looked at me expectantly.

Well that answered our question.

**"So, what you're saying is that he could be hiding now, waiting to wake up and cause destruction again?"** She nodded.

This scared me; a lot.

"You and Ethan could potentially be descendants of those other Fuse Evolvers," Korrina phrased it as an uncertain theory, but she didn't sound like she was guessing.

**"Well then, maybe we should get our story over with now, so we can have time later?"**

Korrina nodded and I started our story.

**"We totally found out by accident. Ethan and I were training with my Mega Evolution, and Ethan was apparently messing with the mega ring and ended up turning it upside down. When he did that, I was immediately transformed back to my normal form. So while it was upside down, Ethan tried to push it again, but nothing happened. So he asked me to push it, and I did and then... well, this happened. At first, we couldn't separate, and Ethan started freaking out. His thoughts gave me a major headache. It took about ten minutes before we could finally separate, and when we did Ethan wasn't wearing any clothes."**

Korrina didn't speak the whole time I told this story.

"So then why doesn't Ethan ever talk with your mouth?" She asked

What bothered me the most was how unsurprised Korrina. I didn't answer her question first, instead I asked my own.

**"Why aren't you surprised? I feel like you're too calm for something like this to be happening."**

Korrina laughed, "Of course I'm surprised, I'm just really good at hiding it."

I thought this was a stupid excuse, but I didn't want to stay on the topic.

"So, are you going to answer my question?" Korrina asked; I nodded.

I had to think about this one for a second.

**"Well this is only the third time we have ever done this, and I hadn't ever really thought about that. I guess it might be because my original body is stronger, but I have more control over our combined form; maybe."**

"What do you mean by maybe?" I had expected this question.

**"I mean, I have no idea if I am right or wrong. It's just a theory."**

Just then, I started to feel the strange tingling sensation that told me that we could finally separate.

**"I think we can separate now,"** I told Korrina.

She nodded and said, "That would be awesome."

**"Ok then, we need to get back to my house,"** I said.

I could feel our face blushing; Ethan was grateful for the fur covering our face (I didn't have total control over this form). When we got to our house, Korrina stayed in our living room and turned the television on and waited there for us to be done.

I walked into our room and closed the door. I had to crouch to get through the doorway. I stood in the very center of the small room. I was the only one who had to do anything this time. I took a deep breath and released the power of the Mega-Evolution, and let it disperse into the air. There was a blinding flash and a loud boom, and everything in the room was shaking like crazy, then it was over.

I was in my normal form looking down at the carpet, and I could hear Ethan panting heavily nearby. I stood up, went to our dresser, grabbed some clothes for Ethan, and thew them to him.

"Thanks Lucario," he said. "Why don't you go and wait for me with Korrina."

I walked out as Ethan began to put his clothes on. I went and sat down next to Korrina; she was watching my every move. I just sat there watching the hallway where Ethan should come out any minute now.

Ethan sighed as he walked out into the room.

He smiled to Korrina and said, "Hey. How are you Korrina?"

Korrina smiled back, nodding to him. Then Ethan looked at me, and I could tell from that he was going to share some very deep secrets.

"So, what do you want to know Korrina? I can tell you a lot of things about me," Ethan said. "But there is something I need to tell you before you ask anything."

"Ok, what do you need to tell me?" Korrina asked.

"So, just to make easier on Lucario, I'll let him share it."

"What?" Korrina said looking to me. "How?"

"This is how," I said; making Korrina gasp in surprise. "If I couldn't talk, I don't think I would have been able to talk to you when me and Ethan had combined."

"But, what?" Korrina said with a confused look.

I just shook my head and rubbed my eyes, "Well, now you know; if you have any other questions, then ask Ethan. I don't think we have time for the complete backstory of how I'm able to speak, but if you want to hear it..."

Korrina looked at Ethan like she was expecting him say something. Ethan looked like he was about to tell her everything, but I decided to step in and save Korrina from death by boredom, and give her the condensed version instead.

"Right when Ethan found me, he had the Mega Evolution Guru create a link between us. This link could go all the way across the world, but at a small cost. I'm not able to talk with my aura. So If I wanted to talk with a person, I would have to do it out loud; and since I couldn't really do that, Ethan taught me English. But he kept it a secret, he thought it would make everyone freak out."

After I finished my explanation Korrina was silent. We all just sat there in silence, Ethan was the one to break it.

"So, what do you think?" He asked with a hopeful look.

"I... I think it's amazing," she replied. "This explains so much of why you started acting weird so many years ago." Ethan frowned, but Korrina didn't notice, "I just can't believe I didn't think of doing the same thing. Well, then again, Lucario's are much more intelligent than most other Pokémon."

Ethan sat down next to his sister. She just looked at the ground in front of her, letting her mind digest everything that I had just told her. She let out a nervous laugh, her one laugh turned into a string of laughs, until she couldn't stop and began to cry because of how hard she was laughing. Her laughter began to spread to me and Ethan and we were eventually all laughing.

I fell to the floor and curled into a ball to try and stop my laughing from hurting me.

As we began to calm down, a knock came from the door. Ethan got up to answer it and opened the door to see Diantha, looking like she just took a mud and rock shower in her clothes


	5. Chapter 4: The Beginning of Our Journey

like i said in chapter three, i need ideas! i want everyone to like this so please give me ideas for plot twists and different characters. i do have an emergency chapter five in case it takes to long to get reviews, so then i will have to put all the ideas you give me into chapter six, or something. Please review when you read this.

Sorry if the chapters are to short, this is my first fan fiction so yeah. Enjoy!

(Update notice 2) i added some more interesting stuff into this. review if you liked it.

Chapter 4

The Beginning of our Journey

Ethan's smile instantly fell into an angry sneer, but then he looked at Diantha's overall appearance. She looked like she had tried to go all the way across Kalos without anything but the shoes on her feet. Ethan's anger slowly left him, and was replaced by sympathy.

"Are you okay?" Korrina asked.

Diantha suddenly started to fall forward, and Ethan had to catch her and hold her up. I quickly jumped up and helped Ethan put her on the couch. When we laid her down, we saw that she had fainted.

Ethan looked up at me with a worried expression, "She's out cold."

"What do you think happened to her?" Korrina asked.

Ethan shook his head, "We'll have to wait until she wakes up to find that out."

After a little while, Diantha began to stir and looked up at all of us.

"What happened?" she groaned.

"That's what we'd like to know," Ethan said gently; I guess that Ethan's feelings toward Diantha had changed from seeing her in this weakened state.

Diantha's eyes got really wide and she said, "The Elite four has been taken over by... by... some crazy Pokémon/person thing."

She started hyperventilating, but Korrina put her hands on the girl's shoulders.

"It's okay Diantha," Korrina said gently. "Calm down, or you're going to pass out again."

She started to breathe slower, but still a little too fast for me not to worry.

"What do you mean the Elite Four was taken over?" Ethan asked urgently.

"It was a... a giant Mega Blaziken," Diantha said more slowly. "He was stronger than anything I've ever seen before."

Then it hit me like a bucket of ice water. I looked at Ethan, and transferred a message through our link.

_"I think it's the Dark Aura person from Korrina's story."_

He looked at me and nodded.

"Why don't you just rest here for tonight, Diantha?" Ethan offered, but Diantha was already almost asleep. "Ok then. Well, me and Lucario discovered something."

"I think I already put it together," Korrina said grimly. "Lysandre isn't in charge anymore."

"So should we do something about it?" I asked. "This seems pretty serious."

"I don't know, but it's getting pretty late. We should get some sleep; we're going to make a visit to the elite four tomorrow," Ethan said.

That night, we had Diantha sleep over; none of us were that hungry, so we didn't bother to make dinner. Korrina thought that it would be best if she slept over too, and none of us argued.

I went to get a sleeping pad to sleep on the floor, so Korrina could sleep in my bed. Korrina said that she could sleep on the floor, but I insisted. I wasn't about to let a guest sleep on the floor.

When we were all situated, I laid down and went to sleep almost instantly.

* * *

><p>That night, I had another one of my freaky dreams.<p>

I opened my eyes, and I was standing in the middle of a large room surrounded by a massive ring of fire. And there, at the very end, stood Lysandre; a smug look on his face. I was about to jump and try to smash him, when a figure walked out of the darkness next to Lysandre which made me hold my ground. The figure had to be at least seven feet tall; he wore a black hooded cloak so I couldn't see his face. For a moment, we just stood there and stared at each other; not moving. The personage raised his hand into the air, and aimed it at me. A loud echoing laugh emitted from his unseen mouth, and a huge ball of fire released from the hand that was outstretched in front of him. The ball of fire came soaring at me, and right as it struck me in the chest and blew me into a million pieces, I woke with a start.

I sat up, panting.

_"Wow; that dream was even worse than the last one,"_ I thought.

I continued to sit up, and didn't move until a different scent entered my keen sense of smell. Smoke.

I jumped up, and bolted into the hallway and saw a light glowing coming from the living room. I ran into the room that Diantha had been sleeping in, and saw that half of the room was on fire; including the door. But luckily, Diantha wasn't on that side. I quickly picked Diantha up, and sprinted to the bedroom that Korrina and Ethan were still in.

I set down Diantha, and started shaking Korrina awake and sending Ethan psychic messages; making him jump.

"What's going on Lucario? Why on Earth are you waking us all up at two in the morning?" Ethan said very wearily.

"Well, the house is on fire," I said, trying not to sound stupid; I kind of failed.

"WHAT!?" Ethan shouted, waking everyone else up fully. "Our house is on fire?!"

I just nodded, and walked to the window.

Ethan jumped and sprinted for the door; he grabbed the handle, but pulled his hand back quickly when he realized it was really hot. The fire was spreading unnaturally fast. Just then, small amounts of smoke started coming in from under the door. Ethan grabbed some dirty clothes and stuck them in the crack.

I looked at the window for a moment, before forming an Aura Sphere and attempting to blow a hole in it. My Aura Sphere didn't even leave a scratch.

"What the heck?"

I tried again, but got the same results. I tried Close Combat, but only shook the wall. Then I realized I had just punched a sheet of metal.

There is only one metal on earth that could do that; Auranium. This extremely rare metal could absorb aura attacks and high frequency sounds. It also absorbed vibrations like another rare metal, called Vibranium, but only Auranium could absorb Aura.

With the smell of smoke starting to fill the air, I began to panic. I started frantically trying different attacks on the wall, but it added up to nothing.

Aura Sphere and Close Combat didn't do anything, so I tried Flash Cannon, but the beam just bounced off and flew into the ceiling. I looked back at the door, and I could see little flames beginning to lick the inside edges of the door.

"Oh great," I muttered.

I looked at Ethan hoping that he would have an answer; but he flashed me a look that said otherwise. Then, I had an idea; Ethan and I just needed to do our special Fuse Evolution.

"Ethan, we need to Fuse Evolve," I said to him.

He nodded, and quickly found his Mega Stone. He turned it upside down, and I pushed down on his wrist.

The same powerful surge of energy rushed into my body as we combined ourselves. When it was over, I had to crouch down a little bit to keep myself from hitting the ceiling.

I used another aura sphere; this one was about ten times as powerful as it usually is. This time, it made a considerable dent in the wall; I guess Auranium had a limit. I did it again, deepening the dent. I did this about four more times until there was a tiny whole in the center, pretty much destroying the integrity of the Auranium metal. I used a Close Combat, and ripped right through the weakened metal.

The hole was wide enough to fit Korrina and Diantha through, so I picked them up and dropped them though the hole. By now, the door was entirely engulfed in flames and was making it hard to breathe; the fire was spreading much faster than I would have liked it too.

I couldn't fit in the hole I made, so I widened it with a quick Bone Rush and jumped through. I ran to the road where the two girls were waiting. I ran on the path and made a good distance between me and the house, but right when I touched the asphalt road, the building went up in a giant fireball and made debris fly everywhere. I covered Korrina and Diantha just before a large piece of wood was about to crush them. Fortunately, the wood just bounced off my back; this totally blew my mind, but I turned to see what was left of our house.

What was left, was pretty much nothing; the foundation of course wouldn't be affected much by the fire, but everything else looked like a house-sized bonfire.

"This is awful," I muttered. "What's Ethan going to do?"

_"I'll tell you what I'm going to do,"_ Ethan said in the back of my mind. "_I'm going to find the person who did this, and beat the tar out of them."_

That was reassuring.

Just then, the sound of sirens reached our ears. We all turned to see the flashing lights of a fire truck and an ambulance coming around the bend in the road. As they sped around the corner, a dark figure jumped from the trees beside the road, directly in front of the lead ambulance. The emergency vehicle tried to stop, and its wheels screeched against the asphalt. The fire truck was too slow to react, and ran into the back of the ambulance. This made it lurch forward even faster, and headed straight for the dark figure.

The person, or Pokémon, held his hand out and the two cars stopped on impact, leaving a massive dent in the front of the ambulance.

"Who in all of Kalos could be that strong?" I muttered softly; then it hit me.

The figure turned around, and faced us for the first time. It removed its hood, and revealed the face of a mega Blaziken.


	6. Chapter 5: The only other one

Sorry this took me forever to get out. i had all sorts of crazy things going on, like thanksgiving and other family affairs. i would also like reviews, like tell me if this story makes you want to read more. also tell me if i made any errors, and leave suggestions.

well here it is, enjoy.

(Update notice:2) i added way more action in my opinion. i also got help from Jack storm 448, i believe i have mentioned him before. GO CHECK OUT HIS STORYS! highly recommended.

Chapter 5

The only other one

I stood there, not very surprised, but I still had no idea what to do when the Blaziken removed his hood. The Pokémon began to walk closer and this woke me from my daze.

I held my hand out in front of me and focused all I had into the aura sphere I was about to make. The blue sphere grew in size extremely fast and in no time was larger than my head and highly explosive. When The Blaziken was ten feet away I unleased the massive aura sphere.

The Blaziken made no move to dodge and I landed a perfect hit, right in the middle of his chest. A loud boom followed by and explosion erupted from the orb and would have normally killed a human instantly. But the Blaziken walked out of the fire around it. The only damage I did was burn his black cloak. With his cloak being gone I was able to confirm that he was in a mega form, but was about as tall as me and had a massive body.

I stepped back, "What do you want?" I growled.

This amused the Blaziken, "To find out all I can about you Lucario." He didn't stop walking the whole time he talked.

"You're that Blaziken with the Dark aura aren't you?"

He smiled, not an evil smile but a devilish smile. One that made you want to cave in his skull and burn all that remained. "So I see that you're well informed about you're past aren't you?" His voice was not like ours where it was two different ones combined, it was relatively normal, but deep enough that it matched his size.

"I was right then."

"In a way, yes and no. I am not to my full power yet, so I intend on gaining a massive army beforehand. An army that will help me take over the world. Starting with Kalos." This sent a shiver down my spine.

"So you don't want to cause massive amounts of destruction?"

"Oh no, I still want to do that. But I just need a reason to. So I decided, since I have so much power, even more than you could ever have, I should take over the world and shape it however I want it to." He stopped walking and stood about five feet away.

I launched another aura sphere at him, but instead of exploding, he waved his hand and it veered upward and blew up in the sky. "Oh gosh, this isn't going to end well." I said out loud.

"You're right, it won't. But for now, I am going to just capture you. Then I will use later when I have captured everyone else I need.

"No, I don't think that's going to happen." I said. I turned around, which was possibly the stupidest thing ever. I tried to grab Korrina and Diantha so we could escape faster, but this Dark Blaziken had other ideas.

I felt a sharp pain in my back. It didn't knock me over, but it hurt like heck. I tried to ignore it, and grabbed the two girls in my arms. They seemed surprisingly light. I spun back and round and saw the Blaziken flying towards us, his fist covered in dark energy.

I jumped right over him and landed right behind him and booked it for the road.

I ran extremely fast but Korrina and Diantha weighed me down a little bit. In the middle of my run, about thirty guards dressed in black and grey jump suits with a fiery 'S' in their chest right above their hearts, jumped out of the trees and stopped us. All of them had a fully auto machine gun in their hands.

"Woah! Guns, seriously? I thought you were trying to capture us?" I shouted.

"We are, this is just a means of persuasion. We won't kill your friends, if you come with us silently."

"What about me?" I asked.

"I don't care if your friends are dead. But you on the other hand are too rare to kill. When I have you in my facility-" I cut him off by saying, "You mean the Elite Four?"

"Yes, once I have you there I will study you and find out how I can harvest your aura. Especially since you can't run out of it." I didn't know what to do.

This over powered Blaziken was creeping in behind us and there where thirty dudes in front of us with guns. Then I had an idea, I remembered what the Blaziken had just done with his hand. He must have used his dark aura and wrapped it around his hand for a super punch.

I dropped the two girls to the ground. "Back up." I said quietly.

I began to focus my aura around my right fist. It noticeably grew brighter and brighter. 'This is going to be fun.' I grinned and looked at the Dark Blaziken.

"What's so funny?" he asked me, he lost his smile when he saw my paw.

But he was too late, I was already dashing toward him at full speed. I made contact with his gut. He let out a soft grunt but otherwise didn't move. I looked up at him quickly and saw he had clasped his hands together and was about to bring them down on me. I tried to pull away but was too slow and he smashed the back of my head and I flew straight into the ground face first. "Ugh." I said muffled by the earth around me.

Wait, the Earth around me! I gripped the dirt and send an aura probe downward. I didn't have to look very far to find an extremely immense amount of auric power. Like I have absolutely no words at all to how much power resided in there. And I had access to it. I jumped into the air startling the Blaziken. I hovered the there, almost like I was flying. But I soon fell back down.

I reached downward again for the aura of the Earth and started drawing power from it. I started glowing brightly. The Blaziken started backing away. "What is this treachery?" he shouted. But I could hardly hear him over the sound of my own voice and the whole new conscious entering my mind.

"I am Leonidas!" this new voice shouted through my mouth. "The first ever to Fuse evolve. Who dare wakens me!" this guy scared the crap out of me. 'Uh, I did. I guess.' I thought hesitantly. 'And you're kind of in my body.'

"What is going on?" The Blaziken shouted.

I didn't seem to have any control over my own body, so this Leonidas being had total domination over me. This put me into a state of panic. 'I would really appreciate it if you got out of me.'

He didn't seem to notice but instead said to the Blaziken, "Splay. You will be destroyed here now, once and for all." So the Blaziken's name was Splay.

A deep growl escaped Splay's throat as he said, "No, I don't think so Leonidas. You're the one that is going down."

"But you aren't yet at your strongest, now are you?" Splay stiffened when Leonidas said this, still using my mouth.

Then suddenly all at once his being left my body and he appeared in front of me. What surprised me was that he was completely solid, and a Lucario too.

"I am here to end you now Splay. Prepare yourself." Splay raised his hands and produced two dark aura spheres and shot them at Leonidas. He effortlessly and gracefully dodged them, but they came straight for me. I instinctively raised my hands as they approached but was surprised when they stopped right in front of me. 'An aura shield? What can't I do with my aura?' I thought excitedly.

But I turned my attention back to the two other Pokémon, they were locked in fierce combat. But I have to say, Leonidas was definitely the most amazing Lucario I have ever seen. And he wasn't even in a mega form.

I just watched before I realized that I should be helping. I readied a small but quick aura sphere and aimed for Splay. I waited for the right moment to launch it, then I got another idea. 'Do you think I make this aura sphere heat seeking, or make it go directly for Splay?' I asked Ethan. 'Maybe, try putting some of your aura on Splay and make it target that.'

I did just that, it was pretty hard considering the fact that he was moving, but I could sense a small amount of my aura on him. So I ordered the aura sphere to go after that, or more like just told it my intent? I have no idea how it worked, but it did. The aura sphere went straight for him knocking him off balance long enough for Leonidas to take him down.

Splay lay on the ground panting as Leonidas place his foot on his chest in triumph. "You're not yet strong enough to beat me. So just give up, go back into your coma and we can end this."

Splay stopped panting all at once then grinned, "That's not going to happen." With one quick motion he knocked Leonidas to the ground and brought his fist down on his chest. On impact, Leonidas dissipated. Then he reappeared behind Splay. "That won't work. I am part of the Earth now, as long as I am touching the ground I am invincible."

Splay growled. He sat there crouched on the ground then jumped into the air and disappeared. I almost jumped after him, but decided against it.

I spun around and all the gun man that were behind me weren't there.

"What the heck?" I said to myself. I turning to Leonidas, "Who are you?" this was probably a stupid question.

"I am Leonidas." He said with a matter of fact tone.

"Well I know that, but like how did you get here?"

He nodded his head and thought for a moment. Finally he said, "I think that before I died, I put my soul into the earth to help whoever had to face Splay again."

"How did you do that?" I asked.

"I have no idea, it had to at least a thousand years ago. But I think it had to do with Arceus or something like that. It's all so vague." He turned towards the smoldering remains of our home. "Did he do this?"

"I think so, I have no idea really. But he had some Auranium that he replaced our wall with. He was obviously trying to kill us quietly."

"What's Auranium?" Leonidas looked pretty confused.

I didn't get to answer because we were interrupted by a voice behind me. "It's a very rare metal that can absorb auric attacks through some sort of energy transfer." I turned to see an old man. Well he didn't look that old but he had graying hair that was combed nicely, and had wrinkles on his face. He wore a light brown trench coat and black dress shoes.

"And who do you think you are?" I asked him. "Are you another one of those crazy people?"

He just laughed, "No no, I assure you I am not part of Team Spark. In fact I'm trying to stop them."

"Well then what's your name?" I asked, self-consciously making an aura shield in front of me.

"I am Looker." I had to stifle a laugh. This made him frown. "I am part of a secret service agency trying to take down Team Spark."

I couldn't handle myself any longer, I burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" Looker asked.

I had to get control over myself before I could answer him, and when I did it was between gasps for air. "Yo-your name, is that your re-real name?" He didn't lose his calm demeanor though. He just waited for me gain full control of myself then he continued.

"Like I said before you interrupted me, I am part of a secret service agency trying to take out Team Spark before they destroy the world."

I didn't say anything but then I just remembered Korrina and Diantha. "Shoot, I forgot about the two girls!" Leonidas looked confused.

"What two girls, I didn't see anyone else here." Leonidas looked even more confused.

"Team Spark took them." Looker said this without much worry.

My heart fell to the bottom of my stomach. 'What do we do Ethan? It's the champion and your sister.' I didn't get a response for a good while. 'We need to leave here first. Have looker meet us at the Battle Chateau when he can.'

I told looker what Ethan needed me too. He nodded and turned around turned back into the woods without another word.

I turned to see that Leonidas had left too. "Wow, I guess we're on our own now."


	7. Chapter 6: the end of the line

This chapter actually took me a while to write. i rewrote it like 5 times before i actually got it to this. then i got help from jack storm to edit it and fix errors.

Chapter 6

The End of the Line

We managed to get some clothes for Ethan; they didn't look very good, but they were better than nothing. They consisted of a bright blue hoodie with pink along the edge of the hood, urban camo jeans, green and yellow sneakers, and a green and purple hat that pushed his shaggy blond hair down. We mostly chose this outfit because of how well it disguised Ethan. We also picked up a new Pokéball that we linked to me. My last one was destroyed, but then again, we hardly ever used it anyway.

After that we headed straight for Camphrire town, not really bothering to sleep at all, in fear that we would be attacked. And Ethan didn't want to go straight to the Elite Four right away; when I asked why, he told me that he just had a feeling that we shouldn't be there right away. This sounded ridiculous to me, but he is the trainer, so I technically had to go along with it.

Camphrire was a humble little town, with a castle. It had quite a few homes, a standard Pokemon Centre, and couple of shops, but it was still a fairly small town. It was dark and we were tired so I didn't really worry about details to much. When we arrived we actually managed to get a few hours of sleep at the motel portion of the Pokémon center before we got ready.

"Why did we come here again?" I asked Ethan as we sat in our room that we rented, just as the first rays of dawn began showing up; Ethan was pretty relieved when the nurse at the desk didn't recognize him.

"It's a pretty remote town, if you think about it. I mean, it gets some tourists; but with these clothes on," he said, gesturing to his strange apparel, "I don't think anyone will recognize me."

"Okay then, but when you get attacked by an army of fan-girls, don't come crying to me," I replied doubtfully.

"Oh whatever, you'd help me," he said; I didn't answer him.

"Right?" he asked apprehensively.

I sighed; this was going to be a long day.

As if in answer to my thoughts, an explosion emanated from outside.

"Oh joy!" Ethan said in exasperation. "Should we just be quick about this and Fuse?" he asked.

"That might be a good idea," I agreed.

With that decided, Ethan stripped down to his underpants, and I pushed down on his keystone.

The now familiar surge of immense power pumped through my veins, and transformed us into our fused body.

_"Let's get this over with,"_ Ethan said in the back of my mind.

Instead of going through the building, I just jumped out the window; this was probably not the best idea. As I jumped from the window into the open air, I was met by an enormous sphere of dark energy. It knocked me out of the air and I landed in the dirt with a loud thud.

**"Okay, that hurt,"** I muttered through my teeth.

I tried to stand up, but was pushed back down by someone's fist that collided with the side of my head.

"Stay down, Lucario."

It was Splay.

"I don't think so," I said under my breath.

I quickly spun on the ground; taking Splay's feet out from under him, while kicking up a lot of dust. I took the chance to jump to my feet and escape the dust cloud.

My head throbbed from the last hit that Splay had landed, and I could feel a headache coming on.

_"I'm going to feel this tomorrow,"_ I thought.

I turned toward the cloud of dust that was starting to settle, and faced Splay.

**"You'd better leave, Splay; this isn't going to end well for you.**"

Splay's silhouette began to appear, and he started to chuckle.

"You think you can stop me? That's ridiculous," The dust finally dissipated and I could see him clearly now. "I am virtually invincible!" he shouted, spreading his arms out wide. "I am a god compared to you. You lack the training and knowledge to wield the power that you possess."

**_"That's enough, Splay."_** Splay turned around, and there stood Leonidas. **_"You have no business being here."_**

"You are interfering with something far beyond you, Leonidas." Splay spat, his voice full of hatred.

"**_Beyond me? You think that a correlation between the two of the most powerful beings on the Earth, is beyond the Earth itself?"_** Leonidas crossed his arms.**_ "You need to be taught more yourself, if you ask me."_**

"This petty Lucario is mine; I am going to kill him and take over the world." the dark Blaziken shouted.

Splay launched a wave of dark aura towards Leonidas. Leonidas disappeared from view then appeared right next to me.

I jumped at the sudden appearance. He radiated immense power; so much at that I felt little bits of his aura leaking into me.

**_"Splay."_**

Splay spun around, his eyes covered in a layer of pure darkness; as in, you could only see black. His hands were also covered in his dark aura; I copied him and did the same with my hands, and held them up in a defensive posture.

**_"You're too tense,"_** Leonidas said calmly.

I looked down at the Lucario.

**"Excuse me?**" I said.

**_"And don't go by the name 'Lucario' anymore."_**

I sighed, **"Now is not the time to give me pointers, or criticize my name."**

**_"But it isn't just a name; it's what you are,"_** Leonidas raised his hands in front of him, the ground began to shake.

Splay roared, unaffected by whatever Leonidas was doing, and charged. The dark aura around his hands left trails behind him that disappeared quickly. I replied with my own roar and charged right at him. He jumped into the air to try and come down on me.

I just kept on running straight, but my eyes never left him.

Splay began to descend and I jumped up and met his gut with my fist. He let out a soft grunt and clasped his hands together, and brought them down on the back of my head.

_"I fell for that again?"_

I flew straight into the ground, with a very audible thud. Pain lanced through my body, and I roared in agony. I couldn't pinpoint the source because it felt like every bone in my body had been shattered.

I just laid there unmoving as splay landed next to me; I looked up at him and painfully raised my paws in front of my face to defend myself.

He leaned forward and whispered, "Like I said, you don't have the ability to wield your power."

For some reason, this sparked anger in me; and that spark, quickly grew into a bonfire. Instinctively, I reached for the Earths store of Auric power and began to draw from it. My pain was forgotten, and replace by blind rage.

Splay backed away calmly as I began to float off the ground. The air around me started glowing blue, but Splay still didn't look surprised.

**"It's mine, not yours. You don't have it, and I clearly know how to use it; if I didn't, then I'd already be dead."**

My rage reached new heights when he didn't even flinch. My emotions were getting the best of me, but there was nothing I could do about it now. So I unleashed all my pent up anger, frustration, and pain in one Auric blast; it was devastating.

The amount of aura in my body was explosive; I had to release it, and who would be a better target than the crazy psychopath right in front of me.

I let loose a wave of energy in every direction and roared into the sky. I charged my entire body with aura and flew straight for splay. I was inches from his face when the first hint of fear entered his eyes.

I landed a blow right into his jaw, and sent him flying into a nearby building. I didn't pause to see if he would get back up, instead I chased after him, pulled him out of the rubble, and threw him into the air like a rag doll. I was in the air right above him faster that lightning, and I sent him plummeting to the ground with a direct punch to his back.

I followed him back down to the center of Camphrire town, and stood over him as he tried to stand. I let him stand up, and he looked at me with the barest hint of respect.

"You're pretty good," He said, but he didn't sound too hurt. "But not good enough."

He tried to swing a punch at the side of my head, but I ducked underneath his arm and landed a clean and powerful blow to his gut.

He hadn't anticipated my move, and he gasped as the air was driven out of his lungs; he flew into the water fountain, and it crumbled and fell on top of him. He just pushed the rubble aside and stood up, not a drop of water on him.

"Better, but you're still just not good enough," he taunted.

_"Wow, I am a real idiot."_

_"Yeah you are,"_ Ethan's voice filled my head. "_You're letting your emotions blind you; you can't do much of anything to him, if you hadn't already found that out. We just need to run and find a safe place to hide."_

**_Your trainer is right, Lucario."_** Leonidas's intervention was not appreciated.**_ "You need to find a place to train."_**

_"No. I need to finish this now, before any further damage is done. I'm not about to go run and hide; there has to another way, there always is."_

"Are you not going to fight anymore, Lucario?" Splay was taunting me again.

**"Yeah, I am."**

I had an idea; everything has aura, and everything depends on it to survive. So, what if I destroyed Splay's aura?

I immediately opened up my aura vision and looked at Splay. He didn't have the usual blue fire that should someone's aura; his was black. I had never seen aura like this before, but that wasn't about to stop me from trying to destroy it.

"I wouldn't try that, Lucario," Splay said, practically reading my mind. "It will only end with your death, and I have a promise to hold up, so I don't plan on killing you quite yet."

_"What promise could he have given someone?"_ I thought.

"You can't run either. I have soldiers surrounding this pathetic town, and they all have weapons far more dangerous to you than guns," Splay was smiling now; he knew that I couldn't escape. "Team Spark is not like all those other organizations. They don't take chances, they don't take no for an answer, and they definitely don't take prisoners. But you, my friend, are an exception."

As if on cue, soldiers dressed in the Team Spark jump suit jumped over fences, came through the gates, and surrounded us in seconds. One of them ran up to Splay and handed him a long sheathed knife.

He slowly pulled the knife out of its casing and said, "This, my dear Lucario, is an tempered Auranium knife," He held it out in front of him as he admired it. "My own group of scientists came up with it. Want to know what it does?"

He looked at me and smiled.

I just shrugged, not seeing anything we would lose now, and said, **"Sure, why not."**

Splay giggled like a little child, this disturbed me.

"Well then, when it meets the flesh of any living thing that has an Aura source in it, it sucks it out. Not entirely, just enough to put it on the brink of death. Now, if you don't want me to put this into to you, you'll come with us unconditionally. Otherwise, you will be experiencing more than just physical pain."

His last words hit me hard; I even felt Ethan flinch in the back of my mind.

**"You wouldn't dare,"** I growled.

"You underestimate me, Lucario. I'm more than willing to kill your two friends; the two that you forgot about last night."

Suddenly, my rage disappeared; all the aura I had borrowed left me, leaving me feeling like I just ran across Kalos as fast as I could non-stop.

_"Great, just fantastic,"_ Ethan said to me. "_There is no way out of this, let's just go with him and get this over with."_

**_No, you mustn't go with him. Remain defiant; don't let him call you Lucario anymore. Think of a name that would better suit you."_**

So Leonidas is still here.

_"What is wrong with me being called Lucario?"_ I didn't understand his problem with my name.

**_"Lucario is what you are, not who you are. You need to find a name that you like, not just call yourself what species of Pokémon you are."_**Leonidas said inside my head, because apparently he can still do that; it was kind of annoying.

_"How about Lucas?"_ Ethan suggested; it sounded good to me.

**"Don't call me Lucario anymore,"** I growled at Splay.

"Oh, okay then; what do you want to be called then?" Splay mocked.

I grinned and began to summon the Earths aura again, making me feel even more powerful.

**"Fear the name, Lucas."** I said.

Splay scoffed, "What an original name, Who came up with it; Ethan?"

This would have normally made me mad, but my emotions wouldn't come to me.

**"I am Lucas, and you call me that."**

I started flouting again, but this time I wasn't angry. I didn't feel any emotions, not even mercy.

I launched tendrils of aura straight towards Splay. He didn't even try to dodge them, but when they made contact with his Dark aura, he screamed in pain as I began chipping away at his life force. By now my aura vision and my normal vision had become one; I could see normally, yet I could also see the fire that represented a person's aura at the same time.

"What are you doing?" he shouted as he doubled over and curled into a ball. "How are you doing this to me?"

**"I'm going to end this right now. You'll never hurt another person."**

Splay's voice changed into a deeper voice and the air around him began darkening. **"I will hurt people for centuries to come."**

He was no longer writhing in agony, and he began to straighten up; my hold on him was slipping. He got up on one foot, then both, then he stood up straight; he made a thrusting motion with his hand, and my Auric choke-hold was broken completely.

**"This is the end of the line for you, Lucas. You'll never amount to anything more than a pathetic child, with power that he can't control."**

He lifted his knife in a throwing position, and I immediately threw up an aura shield. He flung the knife and I totally expected it to stop in midair, but it passed through my shield effortlessly. It struck me in the shoulder, and I was instantly filled with the most excruciating pain I have ever experienced.

It is impossible to fully describe what it felt like; my lungs felt like they would collapse any moment. My limbs wouldn't respond and I collapsed in writhing heap. It felt like lots of little pins were being stabbed into me; like when your foot falls asleep, but a million times worse.

Splay walked over to me twitching body and stood over me.

**"So, the hero of Kalos falls to a simple knife; how pathetic,"** He turned around and shouted to his army, **"Sedate him and load him onto a chopper, were heading back to base."**

The last thing I remember was screaming Leonidas's name but with no response. A soldier wearing a lab coat walked over holding a syringe; he injected its contents into me, and I knew nothing else beyond that point.


	8. Chapter 7: Klang

i am so sorry that this took so long to release. i have been gaming a lot and going to Lan party's. infact i published this chapter at a Lan party. i put a lot of work into it, and so did jack storm 448, my beta reader. you should really read his story if you haven't already.

well i hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 7

Klang

I woke up, and immediately wished I hadn't. My head felt like someone was constantly pounding a sledge hammer on my face; every pound making me wince in pain. My muscles ached and wouldn't respond; I couldn't even lift my head up to look down at myself, but I assumed that I hadn't changed out of my fused form. When I finally opened my eyes and moaned, I was blinded by a bright light.

"He's stabilizing," I heard someone say in the back ground. "Remove the restraints."

I felt something tight around my wrists and ankles loosen and come off. I tried to move my arm, but it still wouldn't respond.

Someone injected something sharp into my arm, and I shot upward into a sitting position and began to pant wildly as my heart rate sped up.

I saw the rest of the room I was being held in. It had lots of different equipment, with tubes and wires hanging out of most of them. In the corner there was a powerful looking computer.

"How are you doing?"

I turned to see a tall woman with long black hair, thick glasses and a long lab coat.

_"What kind of question is that?"_ I thought.

**"Good, I guess."** I said to her; then I looked down at my legs. **"Yep, still fuse evolved."**

"Good; well, we are going to perform some tests on you." She said smiling, "Then Splay will be free to do anything he likes with you."

My fear spiked, and my already racing heart speed up even faster. I stood up and started backing away clumsily.

**"No, no, no, no, I won't let you do that. You can't leave me with that psychopathic lunatic. The only thing he'll do to me is kill me!"** I began to raise my voice. I bumped into some machine and knocked it over with a loud shatter.

The lady sighed and said, "Get the sedative." Another person in a white lab coat approached me holding a syringe.

I began backing away faster.

_"Ethan! I need your help!" _I thought.

_"I'm here. You need to separate us,"_ Ethan responded soothingly.

_"No, we have to stay together and figure a way out of this mess."_

_"Lucas, I have a plan; you just need to trust me."_

The scientist stopped moving, and turned back toward the woman and asked, "Shouldn't we have them separate?"

The woman thought for a moment, which gave me a chance to make an escape plan. I saw a clouded glass door on the opposite side of the room.

I totally booked it for the door, shoving over both scientists in the process. I smashed the glass door and appeared in a well-lit hallway. It was completely empty. I didn't take any time to make a decision; I just sprinted to the left, hoping I was going the right way. I turned the next right corner, and ran right into a scientist holding a metal box. He dropped his box and fell on his rear-end. I didn't bother to apologize, and just kept on running.

An alarm went off, and red lights began flashing along the walls. "ESCAPED PRISONER!" It kept on repeating that over and over. And over that, I heard lots of footstep echoing through the hallway behind and in front of me. I was completely closed off in the hallway, and I started feeling claustrophobia closing in on me.

I turned around and saw a group of soldiers come around the corner I just came from. I turned back around, and saw another group of soldiers come around the bend.

"Halt!" one of them shouted. "Return back to the lab, or we will use force."

They all raised their guns; I began panicking.

**"NO! No, I will not go back to some stupid scientists, to be exprimented on!"** I tried to reach for my aura but found only a small pool of it in me. **"What the heck? What happened to my Aura?"**

**_"It's been drained by that knife Splay used on you,"_** said Leonidas; finally deciding to make his appearance.

_"What are you doing here, huh? You left me there in Camphrire town to get caught! What were you thinking?"_ I shouted at him mentally.

He didn't get the chance to respond, as a small pinch emanated from my shoulder; I looked down, and saw a tranquilizer dart sticking out of my arm. My vision began to swim.

_"I thought that I was immune to poison. What is in this dart?"_

I passed out and fell back into a restless unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>I woke with a start, looking at the same white ceiling as before. I didn't have the same pounding headache, and my muscles weren't as sore. I could move my head, but my arms and legs where strapped down again.<p>

The same lady from before appeared above me in my line of view.

"We are going to unstrap you," she said firmly, "but only to have you separate from Ethan so we can get our tests underway."

I gave her a defiant stare, but otherwise didn't respond. She stared back at me for a moment then looked up to someone out of my line of view and nodded. The electric clamps around my arms and legs released and I slowly stood up. I looked around and saw that the door had been repaired, and a soldier with a gun stood nearby. I rose to my full height, dwarfing everyone else in the room.

"Now if you please, separate from Ethan and we will make sure he isn't harmed," The female scientist said a little more softly.

**"Do you have any clothing for him?"** I asked.

The scientist nodded and said, "We gathered the clothes from your room at the Pokémon center in Camphrire."

She nodded again to the other scientist and he picked up a plastic bag full of clothes and handed them to the lady.

"You may now proceed."

I did as she said, and released the energy holding my in my fused form. This was extremely easy; probably because of how little Aura I had left in me.

There was a blinding flash of light, and Ethan appeared next to me. He quickly snatched the clothes and threw them on; they were, in fact, the same set he was wearing before we fuse evolved.

"You couldn't have gotten something a little less… like this?" he said, gesturing to himself.

The woman ignored him, and said to the soldier, "Escort our guest to his room."

Ethan scoffed when she said 'guest', but the soldier nodded and grabbed hold of Ethan's arm and led him out the door.

_"Keep in touch,"_ I sent Ethan through our link.

_"I'll tell you if there's any trouble,"_ Ethan sent back.

My gaze lingered on the doorway for a little longer before I turned back to the scientist.

"So lady, do you have a name?" I asked her.

"Yes, my name is Fennel. I am a scientist from Unova hired to perform various tests on you," She replied with a hint of pride in her voice. "Now, if you'll lie back down while we perform some scans..."

I almost objected, but another soldier walked in and took the old one's place. I sighed and lay back down. They strapped me back in and wheeled in a large machine with an arm hanging off of it. They positioned the arm just above my ears, and flipped a switch on the console. Lights on the end of the arm began to glow red, and the arm moved over me slowly, ending at my feet, then turned off again. Fennel watched a screen on the computer intently.

"He's lost a lot of Aura due to that knife that we developed. I thought I asked him not to use that," She said to the other scientist.

She turned and walked back over to me, and said, "We'll have to change our plans for now, so we will start with something different."

She walked over to a table and picked up a metal box, the same box that the scientist I ran into was holding; she held up the box and examined it.

"I guess we'll start with this, "she said.

She unlocked the clamps, and I sat up while watching the guard carefully, still looking for a way out; but I guessed I should just go along with it for now.

Fennel handed me the gray metal box; the moment I touched it with my hands, my head was filled with a cheerful voice that said, _"Hi! How's it going?"_

I dropped the box, and it landed with a loud clang.

"What is that?" I asked.

Fennel sighed and said, "It's a weapon we've been developing; we currently don't have a name for it."

I picked the box up, and the same cheerful voice filled my head.

_"Hi! What's your name?"_ it asked; it was apparently oblivious that I had just dropped it.

"Uh, I am Lucas," I replied hesitantly.

I looked back up at Fennel, who was watching me with unwavering concentration; she would make a great stalker.

"Can you hear what its saying?" I asked her.

She shook her head and said, "Not right now, but when I do this..."

She pulled a cord out of another machine that was in the laboratory, and poked the box with it; a hole opened up in the box, and accepted the cord.

"Hello Lucas!" The box's enthusiastic voice was projected was through the whole room. "I don't have a name yet, but you can call me what you like."

I looked up at Fennel, who just smiled; which was strange to me, considering the fact that I am a prisoner. I guess that means I can give it a name.

"How about I call you Klang?" I asked the little metal box.

"Sure! I am all about it," Klang said.

I looked back up a Fennel; she had turned around and was writing down something on a clipboard.

"Wanna see something cool?" Klang asked.

I looked back down at the little gray box in my paws.

"Sure," I said.

Suddenly Klang's form began changing and melding. It slowly grew into a large gray sword.

"Woah!" I said in surprise.

Fennel pushed a button on the console the wire was connected to, and electricity arced through Klang and shocked me, making me drop him. He quickly changed back to a cube and said, "Ow."

I picked him back up, and said to Fennel, "What was that for?"

Fennel sighed and ignored my question, "That will be all for today."

She took Klang from my hands, pulled the wire out, and set him back on the table.

"The guard will escort you to your cell."

The guard grabbed my arm and lifted me off the table.

"You never answered my question," I shouted at her as we left the room.

"Quiet, prisoner," The guard hissed at me.

He had his rifle slung on his back, but he drew a pistol and poked me in the back with it.

"Okay, okay. Good grief," I muttered.

We walked down the white hallway in silence, till we turned down another hallway that was lined with cells; almost all of them full of various species of Pokémon. As we walked past, I saw Ethan sitting on the bed of in one of them. He nodded to me and I nodded back. But as we continued, a flash of blue eyes caught mine. I stopped and took a step back, as the guard yelled at me to keep walking; but I was too mesmerized at what I saw.

It was Korrina's Lucario.

He looked at me with wide, traumatized eyes; he looked like he'd seen the gates of the Reverse World opening. He looked, well, like he'd been tortured. This enraged me more than anything else I can remember; I was so furious, I would've gladly torn down that entire place, if I'd had the Aura left to do so. As it was, the only way I could express my rage was to yell at the guard.

"What did you do to him?! Why does he look that way?!"

The guard had to call back up because I wouldn't move. Eventually, after my ranting had gone on for several minutes, four more Spark soldiers jogged in and grabbed hold of me. It took all of their combined strength to drag me down the hallway.

"You will pay! I swear on my life, YOU WILL PAY!"

They finally threw me into a cell at the end of the hallway, where the lights were dimmer. They locked the cell with an electric lock, and immediately I grabbed the bars and began shaking them with all the strength I had left. When those last dregs of energy were all but exhausted, I stopped yelling and went and sat down on the bed that was bolted to the floor in the far corner.

**_"You put up quite the fight there,"_** Leonidas said from in front of me.

I looked up sharply and growled, "You; what are you doing here? You left us to be caught even though you could have done something!"

I continued on ranting, using words that Ethan would probably disapprove of, but Leonidas just waited patiently until I had vented my anger. When the insults finally stopped coming, the tension in the air was so think I could have cut it with a knife.

**_"I left you there for a reason,"_** Leonidas finally said. **_"It isn't my place to interfere with the events that happen on earth."_**

"So you're saying that you can't help me? Because when Splay showed up at my door, you sure did a lot of helping," I said sarcastically.

**_"I do admit that I wasn't supposed to help you, but I just felt that it wasn't time for you to go to the elite four and face Splay yet. I got punished for helping you the first time, then attempting to help you the second,"_** Leonidas said with a pained look.

"Who would have punished you?" I asked sitting back up.

**_"What do you mean? The only one able to punish me would be Arceus himself,"_** Leonidas said tilting his head to the side. **_"You do believe in Arceus, correct?"_**

"You get to be around Arceus; as in, the god Pokémon?" I asked becoming more interested it what Leonidas does with his free time.

**_"Yes, Arceus, the creator of this world and everything in it; he watches everything that happens in the world. I am one of his trusted messengers."_** Leonidas said.

I thought about this for a moment.

_"Ethan,"_ I sent to him, _"Did Leonidas already talk to you?"_

_"Yeah, did you have a mental break-down?"_ He asked me.

_"No, but I did freak out on him."_

_"Yeah, I could hear all way from here."_

_"Oh,"_ I said kind of embarrassed. _"So you heard that?"_

_"Yep, we're going to have a talk when we get out of this mess."_ I could just imagine Ethan crossing his arms in a disapproving manner.

I groaned and fell back on the bed, "Well Leonidas, what amazing plan do you have to get us out of here this time?"

**_"What do you mean amazing plan? If you're going to get out, it will be because you did it yourself, or had outside help,"_** Leonidas said with a confused look on his face.

I was stunned.

"What do you mean? Why won't you help us? Aren't we like the fate of the earth or something?" I asked; my anger was beginning to boil up again.

**_"You would only understand if you were in my position,"_** Leonidas said crossing his arms. **_"Arceus has given me three strikes; I only have one left. If I disobey him one more time, I won't be allowed back in the Hall of Origin."_**

"So what if you can't go back to the Hall of Origin; Splay won't be able to take over the world. But with me sitting in this pathetic cell, waiting to be tested on by some stupid scientists... And then when they're done with me, they're just going to give me back to Splay so he can kill Ethan and me," I said.

Leonidas rubbed his eyes, **_"I'll be back later; I need to go somewhere."_**

And with that I was left alone in my cold cell; wait, cold... What if I heated things up?

I stood and walked over to the entrance and grabbed the bars. I didn't shake them, but instead focused my aura on my hands. They did begin to heat, and the bars started to turn a bright red; but I didn't do it for very long for my lack of Aura.

I laid back down on the bed and closed my eyes.

_"I now have a way out of this cell. Now I just need a way out of this whole facility,"_ I thought to myself.

I was sitting in my cell, patiently waiting for the guards to come and pick me up. I did hear footsteps from the end of the hall, but they didn't come down to my cell. I heard the creaking of another cell door opening, then panic shot through me from Ethan's mind and I heard him scream; a gunshot echoed through the hall, and I suddenly felt like my heart had been ripped out. I screamed.

* * *

><p>I woke up from the nightmare sweating. The lights in the hallway were dimmer than when I went to sleep. Maybe it was dark outside; but I couldn't tell from where I sat. Probably underground a good distance.<p>

The feelings of the nightmare kept crossing mind and making me shiver. I reached out and touched Ethan's sleeping mind, just to make sure he was still alive.

"We have to get out of here," I muttered, "Soon."


	9. Chapter 8: New found power

i am going to go straight to the topic.

i need reviews.

i hardly get any, and this means that i really don't know what i am doing wrong or if there are things that i should put into it. i am flying blind here people.

reviews are very important in order for this to be successful. i need the readers input.

with that out of the way, i would like to say that this chapter was really fun to write. i enjoyed it quite a bit and hope that you will enjoy it as well.

* * *

><p>Chapter 8<p>

New found Power

I did not sleep well at all that night. I kept thinking about that dream, and if it meant anything. The only thing that I could think of was that they were going to kill Ethan; but I shouldn't think like that.

A loud alarm went off for a second; kind of like an alarm clock. A few moments later, a few guards came by my cell and slid a tray of food under an opening in the bars. The meal consisted of a small bowl of cereal and a bagel. I wolfed everything down, not realizing how hungry I had been.

When I was finished, I set my tray down next to the opening and sighed; laying back down on my bed.

I was interrupted by some new guards who entered my cell and said, "Stand up."

I did so, and they escorted me out of the prison hall and back to the lab I had woken up in. They quickly clamped me to the table and left, leaving only one guard next to the door.

_"Ethan," _I said to him through our link. _"They have brought me back into the lab. Do we attempt another escape?"_

I didn't get a response for a few moments, then he said _"No, just be patient. I am thinking of how we are going to get out of here. Just trust me."_

That ended our short conversation and I waited for Fennel and her assistant to enter the lab. I had to wait for what felt like forever, but they finally came inside; and they brought Klang. The assistant had wheeled in a cart with a bunch of operating tools on it, and a couple of small boxes on a lower shelf.

_"Oh crap; they're going to dissect me or something," _I thought, as fear began to creep its way into my mind.

But instead of grabbing a tool, they brought the same scanner as the day before and positioned it above me.

Fennel sighed and said to her assistant, "His aura levels are still too low. Give him the aura enhancer."

The assistant grabbed one of the small boxes off the lowest shelf, opened it, and pulled out a syringe with a light blue liquid in it. He brought it over and handed it to Fennel. She injected into my left arm, and a sudden surge of energy rushed through my body.

Fennel tossed the syringe into a trash can, and looked back at the display on the scanner.

"Aura levels are stabilizing," She said.

Just then, the surge of power passed, and I didn't feel much different than before.

Fennel turned and looked at me and said, "We are going to be doing one of our touchier test; mostly because Splay gave us a limited amount of time for us to test on you."

She turned and lifted another box and pulled its contents out. The pointed syringe was labeled 'ZRK' and looked like an epi-pen. I had no idea what that meant.

"This may hurt," she said as she positioned the needle end right next to me arm.

"Wait!" I shouted before she could continue. "What is it? I would like to know what you're putting inside of me."

Fennel sighed and said, "It's the DNA of a Zoroark. Our test is DNA crossover, so we decided to pick Lucario and Zoroark."

I pulsed my Aura outward and threw Fennel back into the wall.

"You are not putting that into me," I said.

"You have no other choice Lucas," Fennel said, standing up and brushing herself off.

"Yes I do; I am a free Pokémon and can do whatever I like," I growled. "And I am getting out of this stupid lab."

I charged my arms and legs with Aura, and began to struggle against the clamps.

The guard raised his rifle at me, and shouted, "Stand down! Or I will be forced to open fire!"

I just laughed, making the guard hesitate a little; just what I needed. I grabbed hold of his Aura, and drained enough of it to make him fall unconscious. His gun clattered to the floor. I pulled my arms one last time, and flung the metal clamps across the room.

I stood and turned to Fennel, who was reaching for a nearby radio. I grabbed it with my Aura and made it fly into my hands. I crushed it, and let the pieces fall to the floor.

Fennel lifted the syringe again and charged at me. Instead of dodging, I just punched her in the side of the head and threw her against the wall. I checked her Aura to make sure I hadn't killed her, and turned to the assistant. He was standing by the computer frantically pushing buttons. He slapped a key, and an alarm went off in the building.

I grabbed the Scientist by the neck of his shirt, and slammed him against the wall.

"Where is Klang?" I growled in his face.

He silently pointed a shaky hand towards the cart they had brought into the room. I dropped him to his feet, and kneed him in the gut; he doubled over unconscious.

I launched my Aura vision at the cart, scanning it for Klang; I found him on the bottom shelf in a black box. I bolted over and ripped the clamp off the front, and picked up the small cube.

_"Quick; turn into a bracelet or something," _I said to him; he didn't reply, but instead warped his shape and turned into a simple silver bracelet.

_"Now I need to go get Ethan," _I thought.

I walked into the hallway, and was met by an army of soldiers.

"Oh crap," I said.

I saw Splay in the back of the crowd; he didn't look very happy.

"Take him to his cell and sedate him," Splay said to one of the guards.

I immediately put up a sphere-like Aura shield around me and said, "No; I am sick of being held in this retched, building and I hate the idea of being tested on. I am leaving, and I am taking my friends with me."

The soldier with the tranquilizer gun stepped out of the crowd of soldiers and aimed his gun at me.

Splay laughed, "How will you be able to take them if I am holding them?"

He nodded to some soldiers to my left; they parted, and three of them stepped forward. They were holding Ethan, Korrina, and Diantha by the arms. They forced them to their knees, where they knelt looking at me with fear in their eyes.

_"Why didn't you tell me?_ I said to Ethan.

He looked at me a second then said, _"If I told you, then you wouldn't have gotten this far. You need to be creative; think of some crazy things you can do with your Aura."_

I did think, but the stress was starting to settle in and I couldn't think of very good ideas.

"Go back to your cell, and we can try again tomorrow; otherwise we'll kill all your friends starting with Diantha," Splay said.

"I need to get out of the elite four right now, and stop you," I said defiantly. "I will not go back to my cell."

Splay laughed again.

"We aren't in the elite four," he said. "I destroyed that building, and killed everyone in it."

I felt like he just punched me in the gut.

"In fact, I think I will finish the job; considering Diantha escaped, but at the cost of her own Pokémon's lives."

Splay smiled evilly, and motioned for one of the guards; they brought him a pistol.

"NO! Don't do it! I'll do anything you say if you don't kill Diantha," I said before he could shoot.

He considered it but looked back at me and said, "I have enough power that you'll do anything I say whether or not I kill her."

He didn't even hesitate; he raised the gun to Diantha's head, and pulled the trigger. The bang echoed through the hall, as Diantha's body went limp and she fell to the floor. Her blood began to pool underneath her.

I was stunned, I looked from Diantha's body over to Ethan; his eyes were full of fear.

_"I think I'm going to be sick," _Ethan said to me.

I looked at Korrina; tears streaked her face. I looked up at Splay; he was grinning evilly.

"You're sick," I growled at him switching to poke-speak. "You're a sick, twisted, delusional…"

I would have said some other things, but I suddenly couldn't stand on my feet. I fell to my knees, as my own tears began pushing their way out of my eyes.

"The Hero is broken, and the Kalos League is dead; what a great way to start the fall of the human race," Splay said, as if he were commenting on some beautiful flowers.

I looked at him, tears still spilling down my face, and felt a sudden burst of cold rage; and with that rage, came a rush of energy.

"No," I said quietly. "No; you're the only one who's going to die now."

Splay just laughed again.

"Sedate him, and prep him for testing," He said.

I didn't even get to respond, as someone hit me in the back of the head knocking me unconscious. I woke to the all too familiar feel of metal straps on my wrists and ankles; but now they were on my thighs, fore-arms, upper arms, fore-head, waist and chest as well.

_"Kind of over did it don't you think?" _I thought; then I remembered the events from, who knows how long ago.

I tried to look around, but was stopped by the clamp. When I couldn't do that, I just used my Aura Vision; with that, I looked around and saw that I was in the same lab, and Fennel was at the table next to me preparing something; I got a closer look, and saw the same syringe with ZRK on it.

ended my Aura Vision and just stared at the white ceiling.

_"This sucks," _I thought.

_"Yeah, it does," _Klang said into my head.

_"Whoa, you're still connected to me?" _I said to him

_"Yeah; I didn't let them take me off you, and they can't shock me unless I am connected to that box they push around."_

"Is he ready?" Fennel said to her partner.

"Yes. You may proceed," He responded.

I didn't even get to say anything, as a sharp pain lanced thought the exposed part of my left arm. The pain that came afterwards, almost matched to pain from the Auranium knife. It was agonizing, and I just wanted to die right then and there. But it eventually subsided, and something felt different.

"The test was a success," The assistant said.

The clamps released, and I jumped out; but stumbled when I couldn't catch my balance. I hit the ground hard, and groaned. I looked up, and saw Fennel holding out a mirror. I swiped it from her and looked into it. I sucked my breath, in when I saw something I hadn't expected to see.

My face hadn't changed dramatically, but the whites of my eyes had turned black, and parts of my red irises were a light blue; other than that, my face hadn't changed, neither had the rest of my body, except my hands. I looked at my left hand, and my heart stopped; I had opposable thumbs. I wiggled the small limb; it felt too natural.

"Are you done looking? We need to continue," Fennel said a little harshly; she probably hated me for knocking her out.

I looked over at the guard, who tightened his grip in his gun. I sighed, and laid back down on the table. Fennel turned around and grabbed another syringe; this one had PKU on it, and the liquid on the inside was yellow.

_"Oh great, now I'm going to be part Pikachu; aren't I?" _I thought.

She once again injected me with the contents of the syringe, but this time it didn't hurt.

"Use the enhancer," Fennel said to the assistant.

He nodded, and grabbed another syringe; he walked back over to me, and put it in my right arm. The pain that shot through me was nothing like the knife, or the Zoroark DNA; it literally shocked me. I could see electricity arching off of my body. I screamed as the room began to light up.

The room began growing hotter, along with the pain. I saw the room flash, and a few explosions go off, then it all ended just as fast it had started.

I pulled at the clamps; they were soft, as if they had been melted. I pulled myself out of the table, and saw that everyone in the room was unconscious. I grabbed to mirror that had fallen to the floor, and had cracked form the impact. When I looked, I almost dropped it again; my eyes were two different colors. One was an electric blue, the other was red with darker blue streaks. Both had a black background.

Other features of my body had changed too; the circle of skin on my palms had turned a dark red. I surged with electricity suddenly, and the red circles sparked violently.

"So now I have electric pouches in my hands," I said to myself; then I grinned. "This is going to be fun."

I turned toward the door, and kicked it down. I stepped into the hall, as multiple guards came running around the corner. I reached my hands out towards them, and pulsed; letting loose massive arcs of electricity. The electricity I released was blue, like my Aura.

I closed my eyes and scanned my own Aura, as all the guards I'd shot fell to the ground. My Aura was jagged and sparky, unlike the smooth normal Aura I was used to. It kept flashing out whenever I released it.

_"If I can generate electricity,"_ I thought,_ "Then maybe my Zoroark DNA can do something."_

I focused on one of the guards, and imagined myself looking just like him. I felt my Aura being drained slightly.

I looked down at my new form; I looked just like a Spark soldier. I grinned wildly.

_"Klang, do you know where they are keeping Ethan?" _I asked mentally.

_"Yes, I also know where a whole ton of useful stuff would be. I know this building inside and out."_

This news satisfied me a great deal.

"Let's get out of here," I said in English. _"Tell me where to go, Klang."_

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><p>just a warning i might do the whole talk with the characters thing at the beginning of my chapters. please review if you think that is a bad idea. i kind of want to do it but if my readers don't like it i wont.<p> 


	10. Chapter 9: Escape

Chapter 9

Escape

I ran down the hall towards cell hall B, or so Klang calls it, to go get Ethan.

_"How much farther Klang?" _I said.

_"Just around this next corner." _He replied.

I put on another burst of speed and spun around the corner only to be met by twenty Spark soldiers.

"What's your rush soldier." One of the ones in the front said. So my illusion was working.

I paused to catch my breath and give the guards a chance to lower their weapons.

I looked the front soldier in the guard and said, "This," I stretched my arms and released massive bolts of lightning before any of them could react. They all fell to the floor.

I located Ethan's cell and looked inside; it was empty.

"Looking for this?"

I spun around and saw Splay holding Ethan by the neck of his shirt, he also held a yellow syringe labeled PKU.

"Let him go." I said.

"I don't think so." He jammed the syringe into Ethan's arm. Ethan screamed out in pain and fell to the floor shaking and changing. The room flashed and the changes started happening.

His hair was changing into a bright yellow and his hands started sparking wildly.

I roared, dropped my illusion and stretched my arms out and unleashed more electricity. It hits Splay directly in the chest he shouted in pain and stumbled backward into the wall.

I jumped towards Ethan and knelt down next to him, he has finally stopped shaking but his hands still wouldn't stop sparking. "Ethan!" I shouted.

He looked up at me sharply. He didn't respond but just stared at me with his now bright yellow eyes. I attempted to help him to his feet but he wouldn't stand and Splay was recovering.

I looked down at his wrist and saw that they had taken his keystone. I looked up and saw Splay leaning against the wall; I must have hit him harder than I thought.

Fear pierced my heart and what I did next blew my mind. I reached out for Ethan conscious through our link and grabbed hold of hit. I pulled on it and tried to pull us together.

The hall filled with another flash of light and I looked down at the floor. I panicked and frantically looked around for Ethan, but then I noticed the changes that had just happened to me.

I rose to my full height, which was now seven feet tall; we had fused.

I looked at my hands and saw the little red electric pouches that constantly sparked. The fore-claws on the top of my paws had also extended slightly past the front of my paws.

I looked up at Splay and grinned wildly. **"You're going down buddy." **I said. I used metal claw which just extended my fore-claws even farther.

I charged at what seemed like light speed and attempted to stab him in the stomach.

He deflected my blade with his arm which was coated in Dark aura. I brought my other blade down towards his face but he just did the same thing. We held our current position, trying to out power the other. I energized my limbs with aura and began pushing down harder.

Splay's arms slipped and he had to jump back to keep from getting cut to ribbons. I jumped after him charging my new blades with tons of aura making them even more deadly.

I began swinging my arms in confused motions and Splay couldn't predict my next move. I got his shoulder, cutting a deep gash and spilling blood all over. He staggered backwards as I approached him.

Then it hit me, how could I hurt him now, but not when I was kidnapped.

I paused in my steps. **"You're not Splay," **I said. **"Where is he?" **I growled.

The fake just grinned, "He's not here right now. He's on more important business."

I just charged forward and impaled him through the stomach.

His grin disappeared as he began coughing up blood. **"Once you tell me where he went,"** I growled in his face, **"I will give you my permission to die."**

He spat at the ground and bit something in his mouth. He began chewing whatever it was and his mouth started foaming. His form flashed and he changed back into a normal Blaziken.

He went limp and I pulled my blade out of him and let the corpse fall to the ground.

I turned around and walked toward Lucario's cell and ripped the door off its hinges. **"Come on," **I said and waved him out.

He walked out and I said to Klang, _"Now where is Korrina?" _

He directed me to another nearby cell hall. I began walking down looking in each of the caged rooms. I saw other Pokémon in each cell.

_"When we come back, I am going to free all of these Pokémon. But for now, I need to get Korrina and my friends out first."_ I thought.

I finally found her call and ripped the door right off. She looked up sharply from her bed.

**"We need to get out of here, now." **I said quickly.

She nodded and stood up. When she saw her Lucario she jumped for him and wrapped her arms around him. He hugged her back.

"I am so glad that you're okay." Korrina said into Lucario's shoulder.

Lucario just grunted.

**"Okay, let's go." **I said.

The moment I said that a boom shook us to our cores.

_"Klang, what was that?" _I asked.

_"A bunker bomb." _He said calmly.

_"A WHAT?"_ I shouted in my head.

Klang did what I suppose was a sigh, and said, _"The building is under attack by the military. That is why Splay is off at a different building in Sinnoh."_

_"Awesome."_ I said sarcastically.

**"Lets move." **I said out loud to Korrina and Lucario.

"Wait, what was that boom?" Korrina asked.

**"It was an explosion, because apparently the army is attacking."**

"Oh,"

I turned and started heading down the hall with Korrina and Lucario tailing me.

_"Okay Klang, where to?" _I said.

_"To the vehicle bay, we can get a ship there." _He replied.

_"Is there a ship that can hold all of us?" _I asked.

_"Yes, there is, you'll see."_

He directed me through the long winding halls, taking down Spark soldiers the whole way.

We came to a large steel door.

_"Is this it?"_ I asked Klang.

_"Yes, bust it down and we will leave."_ He replied.

I charged my fists with aura and punched it down.

When we stepped into the room, I discovered a new meaning of the word huge.

The bay could hold at the least fifteen football fields, it was probably two hundred feet tall.

It was filled with tanks, jets that could take off vertically, space ships that looked like they came from a sci-fi movie, giant crates, and a ton of Spark soldiers.

They all turned and looked at Korrina, Lucario, and me. Most were preparing jets and space ships, but quite a bit pulled out either hand-guns or rifles.

I raised an aura shield around us and brace myself. They opened fire.

The massive barrage of bullets sprayed off of my shield and bounced everywhere. I started advancing slowly and said to Korrina and Lucario, **"Come on! We're going to find a ship and leave!" **

I walked into the mass of soldiers, I saw multiple different men fall to the ground from their own bullets.

We kept walking but stopped when all the soldiers stopped shooting at once.

We turned around to see a tank, hovering four feet off the ground, aiming its giant cannon at us.

There was a boom as the shell on the inside was ignited, I knew my shield couldn't take a hit like and adrenaline blasted through my veins.

At the same time, everything went into slow motion. I could clearly see the massive missile heading straight towards me. I stepped out of my shield and turned around.

Everyone was frozen. I walked up to a soldier and waved my hand in his face.

I turned back to the rocket and walked up to it. It was about halfway from my shield and the tank. I touched it lightly and it moved. I cocked my head to the side and grabbed it. I could just move it out of the way.

I grinned and spun the rocket around, walked towards the tanks and positioned it directly in front of the entrance to the cannon. I went and stood in my original place and waited. Nothing happened for a second, but I nearly wet myself when a huge explosion went off.

The floating high-tech tank that was probably worth more money than Ethan had, now sat before us, burning.

"What did you do?" Korrina said gaping at the remains of the tank.

**"Long story, I'll tell you later." **I said a little dazed.

_"What ship do we need?" _I asked Klang

"_One of the space ship looking things." _He said. _"By the way they can't actually break orbit, but it's the fastest ship here."_

I looked at the stunned faces of the soldiers. **"If you don't want that to happen to you," **I said loud enough for everyone to hear, **"Then you will leave this vehicle bay." **

They all hesitated but when I formed to sparking aura spheres they all quickly made their way to the door.

We then walked over to one of the landed ships. There was a rap into it on the back, in between the two giant turbine engines.

The cockpit was actually quite large. It had four seats, each one was in front of a control panel.

I went and sat down in the front most one while Korrina and Lucario took two of the rear seats.

_"So, what do we do now?" _I asked Klang.

He didn't reply, instead he jumped off my wrist and on to the control panel. He literally melted in between the buttons.

Almost instantly the ship roared to life.

The ramp in the back shut and we began to lurch forward into the air. A loud beep and the doors at the far end of the bay opened. Naturally the doors fit the size of the room, they were huge.

They opened sideways, sliding into the walls. We flew out into open air, only to be greeted by a dog fight of planes.

**"Klang, we need to get out of here!" **I said.

"I know, I am working an escape route." He replied through the speaker system.

We started merging with the fight, which was not good. We were weaving in and out of different situations hoping that we would be ignored, but of course life had other plans.

"We're being tailed." Klang said.

_"Great," _I thought, _"just great."_

"Now he's shooting at us, arming rear cannons." He said.

**"Wait, can't we like talk to him or something? Like open a communication channel with him?" **I asked.

"Maybe, let me try." Klang replied.

There was some static over the speakers then a female voice erupted out of the speakers.

"Who is this? How did you make contact with our secure network?" The female pilot shouted.

"Ethan Wilson is on board this ship, we are attempting an escape to rescue him." Klang relpied.

There was a moment before she replied, "Ethan Wilson? You mean the champion of Kalos is on your ship?"

Klang gave an affirmative, then the pilot paused for a moment. "I'll spread the word." Then the connection was broke.

"She stopped following us, now we need to make our way back to Lumiose." Klang said.

I sighed and leaned back in my seat. **"Well, how long is it going to be till we get there?" **I asked.

"About three hours." Klang replied.

I sighed.

_"Hey, do you want to let me out now?" _I heard Ethan's voice in the back of my head.

_"So you've finally gotten a hold of yourself." _I said to him.

_"You could say that, now could you separate us?" _He asked.

_"But you won't have any clothes and I didn't grab any for you."_

_"Focus on the clothes I had on when we fused, Leonidas told me that we could separate and I would still have clothing."_

I considered it for a moment then thought, _"Why not,"_

Before I let go of the current of energy I imagined Ethan with his previous clothes on. I made that the center of my thoughts and then let go.

The flash that came afterwards was much brighter than usual, and when I opened my eyes Ethan stood in front of me, with his clothes on.

"Finally," he said, "It always feels like forever when we do that."

"Wait, did you see it when time like, froze?" I asked him.

He nodded and said, "I think we should explain it to everyone else though."

I turned around and saw Korrina and Lucario, both of which had very confused looks on their faces.

"When you say, time froze, is that when you blew up the tank?" Korrina asked.

"Yes, right before the rocket hit us everything froze and I turned it around, so it went right into the tanks cannon." I explained.

"I am still confused." Korrina said.

I just shook my head and said, "Never mind, at least we aren't dead." I turned around and faced Ethan, "So what do we do now? Do we head to Lumiose, or stay hidden?"

"We stay hidden. If we go to a big city we'll attract too much attention which ,ill make it easier for Splay to find us." Ethan said leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.

I nodded in agreement and then asked Klang, "Does this ship have a tracking device on it?"

"Yes it does, but the three motorbikes do not." Klang replied.

"There are Motorbikes on this thing?" Ethan asked.

"Yes, keep up Ethan." Klang said with a touch of annoyance.

I shook my head and said, "You love to leave out details, don't you?"

"No, you just never ask so I just don't say anything. Anyway, we can be dropped off somewhere in the woods below us and then set the ship on auto pilot and have it cruise around until it runs out of gas. I will set it to head out to sea."

"But there are only three bikes." Korrina said.

"Then we will have to share, it's not that hard." I said.

"But how many of you have actually ridden a motorcycle?" Korrina crossed her arms as she said this. "I am the only one old enough to even have a driver's license."

No one said anything, making it obvious that we had no experience on motorcycles.

"Don't worry, they aren't hard to ride. They shift gears automatically so you won't have to learn how to use a clutch. You just need to know how to ride a bike." Klang explained.

I sighed with relief.

"Well then that settles it, Klang, drop us off."


	11. Chapter 10: The Alazins

This chapter is by far my longest. at almost 5,000 words i think you will enjoy it. i know that i really enjoyed writing it. remember to please post a review about what you think of the fight scenes. and i am thinking of doing the whole talking with my characters, except i will do it in a different way.

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><p>Chapter 10<p>

Alazin

I kicked down hard on the start lever of my brand new, shiny, white dirt bike, making the engine roar to life. The ship we'd stolen had three of them neatly packed into a compartment in the back of the cockpit. Korrina and Lucario were sharing one, with Korrina driving.

Ethan and Korrina had started theirs up, and were fitting helmets on their heads; speaking of which, Klang had found some neat helmets which were designed to adjust to fit different Pokémon. All the helmets were motocross with the elongated nose part, and we each had a pair of goggles as well. Klang had also gained some new upgrades; apparently he could copy any technology that he touched, so now he could talk with speakers he gained from the ship, and a ton of other stuff. I had him attached to my wrist as a simple bracelet.

"So where do we go now?" I asked Klang out loud.

"I don't know. We could go anywhere really, just as long we stay away from any big cities," He replied.

"Why would we stay away from the cities? Wouldn't we want to go a city and tell the international police?"

Klang was silent for a moment, and then he said, "Isn't that what Splay would be expecting us to do? He's probably planted fake police everywhere."

I thought about this for a moment. "What do you think Ethan? Technically you're the leader of this group."

He looked at me and said, "I have to agree with Klang on this one. Lets just stay in the woods and wait for the heat to die down; as long as we are alive, Splay probably won't attack anyone because he knows that we would interfere. He's just waiting to recapture us so he can get his plans underway."

I sighed. "Okay then, let's get moving."

The dirt bikes that Klang had supplied us with were actually really easy to use. They pretty much balanced themselves, and you didn't have to switch the gears at all; it was all automatic. In fact, the hardest part was getting off of the bikes; we were so stiff from riding for hours on end, Ethan actually fell over trying to get off because his legs wouldn't support him.

We rode until it got dark, and then we found a good place to camp; Lucario and Korrina went off to look for dry wood, which left me and Ethan sitting alone on an old log.

"We've got no food, no shelter, and nothing to keep us warm other than a fire. It's just like when we traveled around Kalos beating gyms, except we had stuff to stay alive," Ethan said.

I nodded in agreement and we fell into another silence. A silence soon shattered by a piercing scream, which made me jump to my feet in shock; the scream was coming from the direction Lucario and Korrina had gone. An explosion soon followed, much closer to us than the scream; seconds later, Lucario burst through the bushes followed by Korrina.

Korrina ran toward me and Ethan, and Lucario turned around and launched a powerful Aura Sphere at some unseen enemy. He turned back towards us, but was tangled by a net that flew out of the trees and wrapped around him. I quickly took up a battle stance and wrapped us three in an aura shield.

"Who's there!" I shouted.

There was no response except for another net, which flew out from another direction and bounced off my shield.

"Klang, did you happen to pick up a motion sensor or something?" I asked quietly.

"Yes, I did."

His form morphed, and he turned into a little box with a circular screen; a line rotated around the middle illuminating five little dots, one on each side of us.

"Thanks, now can you make it smaller and attach to my arm?" I asked as another net bounced of my shield.

"I can do better."

He changed again, but instead of attaching to my arm he wrapped around my ear and put a little glass screen in front of my left eye. I could see the sensor and what was right in front of me at the same time. On the screen I could see the little blips moving around us in a circle. I looked in the direction of one of them and launched an Aura Sphere toward the enemy. An explosion, followed by a shout in poké-speak, caught my attention; the blips stopped moving.

"Who are you demon?" a deep voice said in the language of the Pokémon.

"Demon? Who are you calling a demon? You're the one attacking us!" I shouted in poké-speak.

One of the figures stepped out of the cover of bushes, it was a Lucario! He was wearing thin leather armor on his arms, chest, and shins.

"You," he said pointing to me, "have a very strange Aura radiating from you, and your eyes are very strangely colored."

I cocked my head to the side. "What do you mean strange Aura?" I asked; I understood why he thought that about my eyes.

The Lucario just stood there looking at us.

_"Klang, can you turn into a sword too, or just one thing at a time?" _I asked.

He responded by shrinking sensor on my ear by quite a lot and forming a large broadsword in my paw. I hefted it, feeling its weight in my hands, then turned back to my opponent. He gave me a confused look then pulled his own weapon off of his belt.

It looked like the handle of a sword, just without the blade. He held it in his right hand and stretched both arms to his sides, then his eyes turned from red to entirely white and he began to glow with energy. His sword handle began to grow an actual blade, formed from glowing blue Aura; an Auric shield appeared on his left arm as well.

"You dare challenge me?" he said, readying his weapons and crouching a little; a canine grin on his face. "You will be defeated, then you and your friends will be taken to be tried for trespassing."

I didn't reply, but instead readied my own sword and lowered the dome shield around us. I gestured for Ethan and Korrina to back up, and they went to try and untangle Lucario.

I looked right into the white eyes of my opponent. He dove at me so fast I could barely dodge him, and he managed to barely graze my shoulder, making searing pain arc through my body. It felt like he had just branded my shoulder with a red hot poker. I grimaced in pain and turned to face back to him; his grin had gotten even wider than before.

"Klang, drop the sword and sensor; give me some armor," I said out loud.

He morphed and changed to some simple armor, covering my chest, shoulders, arms, and shoulders. It wrapped around the spikes on my arms and chest. He finished it with a helmet that resembled the dirt bike helmet I wore earlier. Instead of a metal sword, I used my aura to make a matching sword with my shield.

I charged forward slashing with my aura sword. He managed to dodge my first swing, but when I brought it back I transferred some of the momentum into a faster attack. He had to block my attack with his shield. I used my shield to shove him back, knocking him off balance, and used this opening to strike.

I brought my sword down on his leather padded shoulder, a blow that should have removed his arm. My sword got caught in the soft material, not piercing it at all. The Lucario's grin had disappeared and turned into a scowl. He kicked me in the gut, launching me into a nearby tree.

The air in my lungs left in a whoosh. I fell to the bottom of the tree attempting to breathe properly. It's not like I've never had the wind knocked out me, this is just the worst time. I looked up to see the armored Lucario standing above me holding his sword to my throat.

"You are quite the fighter, but just not good enough," He still had that smug grin when his blade and shield dissipated and his eyes returned to normal.

He turned around and started walking toward the center of the clearing, he made a motion with his hands and his four partners stepped out of the woods; one of them was being assisted by another.

I slowly stood and wheezed, "Get back here, you wimp."

I had to support myself against the tree I had been knocked into.

"Wimp!" He scoffed. "I just beat you; what gives you the right to call me weak?"

I grinned slightly, "You have no idea what I am capable of; I just didn't want to kill you."

The Lucario turned around, spread his arms in a boastful gesture, and shouted, "I am Acero! The strongest warrior in all of Kalos and the comma nder of the guard of the Alazin. You seriously think that you could defeat me."

I stood up straight, asked Klang to turn back into a bracelet, and began walking towards Ethan. I stopped next to Ethan and turned and faced this so-called 'Acero'.

"You are about to be smeared across the floor." I said.

I reached out with my mind and grabbed hold of Ethan's consciousness through our link, and pulled it towards me; there was the customary brilliant flash and then I rose to my full Fuse-Evolved hight, dwarfing everyone in the clearing. Acero's eyes were as wide as dinner plates.

I took a step forward, settled into a combat stance, and said, **"Are you ready?"**

He stood staring at me for a moment, trying to make sense of what he'd just witnessed, before he reacted; when he did, it was in the most peculiar fashion.

He bowed.

He literally got down on one knee and bent his head down, and so did the rest of his companions.

**"What are you doing?"** I asked him, thoroughly confused.

"You are the ancient king of Alazin, are you not?" He asked, looking up.

**"No, I don't even know who the Alazin are,"** I said.

Acero stood and said, "You can Fuse Evolve; the only one who can do that is the king of Alazin."

I was totally confused**.**

**"Then if I am the king, where is this Alazin?"** I asked, feeling way less confident then I sounded.

"We are just inside the boundaries agreed by the Humans' government. The actual kingdom is a few miles away. One of our scouts saw you four riding through our territory on your machines. He informed us that one of you had a strange Aura and felt very powerful. We were sent to apprehend you," Acero explained.

I thought about this for a moment, then asked, **"Who are your buddies?"**

He gestured to the largest one of the group; he was at least six inches taller than Acero and had a massive build, "This is Ares; he's our muscle."

He turned and pointed to the only female of the group and said, "This is Lucy."

He nodded to the other two, one of which was the one I hit with an aura sphere, "Those two are the twins; Kobalt and Sirius."

They all nodded to me in turn and I nodded back.

**"Well, I am Lucas, and the person I Fused with is Ethan; and this is Korrina and Lucario," **I said, introducing everyone in my group.

"Why is his name Lucario?" Acero asked.

I sighed and said, **"I really don't know."**

Acero shrugged and said, "Do you want to come and see the Kingdom you should be ruling?"

_"If it means beds, food, and shelter, then I'm in!" _Ethan said to me.

I nodded then said, **"Yes that would be nice."**

I un-Fused me and Ethan, making sure to concentrate on him being clothed; Acero gave me another look of surprise. I walked over to my dirt bike and picked up my helmet and goggles.

"You won't be able to take those," Acero said.

I cocked my head to the side and said, "Why not?"

"It is a Human vehicle; we do not allow Human vehicles in the city, as they pollute the air," Acero said.

"Well then what do we do with them?" I asked.

"I have a solution," Klang said. "I could absorb them."

"What? You can do that?" I asked.

He made a sound that seemed like he was sighing. "Yes; it will only make me a little bit larger. I don't want to explain specifics to you."

"Where does all that mass go?" Ethan asked.

"Like I said, no details," Klang replied, obviously annoyed.

"Okay then, go ahead," I said.

He flew off of my wrist and landed on my dirt bike, and I saw him disappear into the cracks. Soon the whole thing was covered in viscous gray liquid. The pile began to shrink slowly until all that remained was a small cube where the dirt bike had been. Klang continued onto the other two bikes then flew into my hand; he felt no heavier than before. I then had him attach to my arm as a bracelet, and I looked at Acero's astonished face.

"We should get moving," I said, waking him from a momentary daze.

"Yes, that would be a good idea. Lucy, go scout ahead for us," He said to the female Lucario and she dashed off. "This way,"

The walk was around four miles, and was long and very uneventful. Very little conversation happened, but from the ones that did happen I figured out that Kobalt and Sirius were identical twins; I couldn't even tell the difference between them. I also learned that Acero has bested everyone in the group, even Ares with his hulking mass. Eventually, Lucy came back and reported that we were clear.

We finally arrived at a huge barred gate; it was not nearly as big at the bay door at Splay's base, which was probably destroyed by now, but it was still pretty big. We stopped near the bars, which were nearly as thick as my head, and Acero announced himself; after they'd confirmed his identity, the gate opened to let us in.

We stepped into a totally different setting; it seemed like one of those bustling markets you would see in a medieval film. There were tons of different shops all along the side of the street, each one crowded by tons of different species of Pokémon. Guards stood every few shops, each one dressed similarly to Acero.

"What is this place?" I asked him.

"This is the market, where merchants and traders come from all over Alazin to show off their goods," Acero replied.

Ethan tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned and looked at him.

"Korrina and I have no idea what you guys are saying," He said.

I turned back to Acero and asked, "Is there any way you can make it so that humans can understand what we're saying?"

"Actually, yes; it's a method that is used commonly, as we have visitors from your government quite often," He turned and faced Ethan and Korrina, and closed his eyes.

A moment later he opened his eyes and said, "You can now understand what we are saying correct?"

Ethan nodded, totally unfazed; Korrina on the other had was gaping in astonishment.

She looked at Lucario and said, "You can understand me?"

Lucario laughed, "I have always been able to understand you; you just haven't been able to understand me."

"Shall we go introduce you to the elders?" Acero asked me.

We weaved our way through the crowd, towards a massive castle made of stone. Four guards stood by the huge double doors; Acero nodded to one of them and they pulled a lever next to him. The giant doors opened inward and we stepped into a long hall, with another set of doors which were only slightly smaller than the ones we'd just passed through.

The walls were decorated with paintings, suits of armor that looked like they fit Lucarios, and tables holding pots that looked very expensive and old. There were also other doors on the way down the hall, but Acero never turned to enter any of them. When we arrived at the two large doors at the end of the hall, Acero pushed them open and stepped in.

We were met by a large group of old Lucarios, obviously the elders. They were sitting on a raised platform that circled the edge of the room, making the floor of where they sat around the top of my head. They were positioned in such a way that they were able to look down at the center of the room. They were apparently in the middle of a discussion when we entered. Many of them had looks of surprise at our entrance, the rest were looking at me in wonder.

One of them spoke up, in a slightly shaky voice, "Acero, What news do you and your bounty hunters bring?"

Acero cleared his throat, and announced loudly, "I have found a descendant of the line of royals; specifically, the King."

Whispered conversations echoed through the room before one of them asked the question we were all waiting for.

"If he truly is the King's descendant, then have him prove it."

Acero motioned for me to demonstrate, and I stepped back next to Ethan; I grabbed his consciousness and pulled it toward me, causing the now-familiar brilliant flash of light. When we finished, I stood up straight, making me tall enough to touch the top of the raised table. I was rewarded with multiple gasps from around the room.

One of the Lucarios on the left side stood up; he looked younger than the rest.

"It's a trick!" he shouted. "He has illusionary powers!"

"That's absurd," Acero said. "Only the most powerful of Zoroarks could pull that off."

"No, don't you see it? It's in his aura. I can see it very clearly." He insisted.

I stepped forward, **"This is not an illusion. I did get powers like that, but only because I was used as a test subject for genetic engineering." **This seemed to catch everyone attention.

"Who tested on you?" A different elder asked.

**"Have you ever heard of Splay?" **I asked.

Nobody seemed to know.

I sighed and prepared to explain everything,** "Well, a thousand years ag-"**

I was interrupted by the doors flying open behind us.

One of the guards rushed in, "We are under attack!"

For several moments, everyone was silent.

A female elder was the first to respond, "Who would be attacking us?"

"Men; lots of them, all wearing thick metal armor with guns!" he said.

A loud explosion echoed from outside.

"Elders, get to your safe room; everyone else, with me!" Acero shouted.

Immediately the elders stood and moved towards a door out of my line of sight. Acero directed us to the entrance of the castle, and we exited into a battlefield. There were dozens of huge ten-foot-tall robots running around, shooting anything in sight. When he saw the ensuing destruction, Acero went into rage mode; his eyes not only turned white, they glowed blindingly. His sword and shield did the same thing, except blue. I followed his lead and covered myself in a thin Auric shield, making me glow blue.

**"Klang, turn into a broadsword," **I commanded.

He did so, and I hefted the massive blade; It felt perfect in my hand, making me feel invincible. I let loose a roar that shook the ground, making everything silent; all the robots turned on me. They charged, firing their weapons; I felt bullets bounce harmlessly off of my shield, and I charged back swinging my sword viciously.

Every swing chopped a limb off of some machine; I hacked through hordes of them, followed by Acero and his little group of fighters. We smashed hundreds of them; but they kept coming, pouring in through the gates. I grabbed one by the arm, lifted it into the air, and threw it across the battle field. Explosions and gunfire created small distractions, and I had a hard time concentrating.

I created one of my two metal claws, and used it to stab right into the chest of one of the robots. When I pulled it out, it was coated in blood. I stared at it in horror for several heartbeats, before I was hit hard in the back of the head and spun around to see another robot. I used my sword and cut it in half across the chest. I was almost sick when I heard a squelching noise, and saw blood covering my blade.

_"Not all of these are just robots!" _I finally realized.

I turned, looking for Acero to tell him, and I saw him locked in combat with one of the ten foot robots. He quickly dispatched it by removing its head with one stroke of his sword.

**"Acero," **I shouted; he turned and looked at me. **"They aren't all just robots!"**

He nodded grimly, and continued fighting.

"You're right Lucas," said an all too familiar voice. "You figured that out the hard way didn't you?"

I turned and faced Splay.

**"Splay! I am going to end this here, and now!" **I shouted.

He laughed. "I am not here to fight, merely to explain some things."

**"You have nothing to explain at this point. All I need to do is kill you," **I growled.

Splay sighed. "You are so ignorant. If I wanted you captured I would have already done it."

I felt like he just slapped me.

"You see, you don't fully understand me. I am not what you think I am; I am far more than just some pathetic Blaziken."

**"Oh yeah, well then show me what your made of," **I growled, charging forward in anger.

I swung my sword, attempting to cut him short right at the neck, but he lifted his hand and blocked my swing. He grinned and used his other fist to punch me in the gut. My shield blocked his punch, and I used his contact to my advantage. Where his fist was touching my shield, I stretched my aura out and wrapped it around his arm. I hardened it, making it impossible for him to move his hand.

He looked down in surprise, giving me the chance to pull my sword away from his grasp and swing at his other side. I dug my sword deep into his shoulder, pulled back, and kicked him hard in the chest with both feet. I let go of his arm and he flew into a nearby house.

I readied my sword in front of me, and waited for him so stand out of the rubble. When he finally did, I looked at his shoulder where I had wounded him; as I'd feared, there was no mark, as if I hadn't hit him with my sword at all. He rolled his shoulders and stepped out of the rubble.

"Good strategy, you actually managed to hit me," He said, grinning.

I growled, and charged forward, faster than his eyes could track me. My blade went straight into his stomach and I swung my sword up, throwing him into the air. I shot into the air and followed him. I hovered in the air right above him for a split second, before I swung my sword down and launched him into the ground. I forced myself down faster with my Aura, and brought my sword down on his back; once again, it didn't even leave a mark.

I had Klang change into a pair of brass knuckles, and I grabbed Splay by the back of his neck and threw him again into another nearby house. I walked over to where he lay in a pile of rubble. He tried to stand but I punched him back into the spot where he had been.

He looked up at me, not a scratch or a mark on his face, and gave me an evil grin.

"I underestimated you," He said.

I scoffed. **"Yeah, no kidding."**

"But this body is hindering my abilities," He said, attempting to stand but being pushed back down again.

**"What do you mean 'this body'?" **I asked.

"I have a true form; I am merely borrowing this body from a guardian I possessed. The stories you heard about me are false. I was never a Blaziken," He said.

He jumped up faster than I could put him back down, and he punched me in the jaw. My head rolled to the side and I stumbled back; the only thing that kept me from breaking my jaw was my shield. I turned my head back, but was met by another punch, but this one was to my chest.

I commanded Klang to turn into a shield, and he warped and became a large round plate of metal attached to my right arm. I made a metal claw in my left.

"You are not going to win this fight no matter how much you try," Splay said over the sound of the battle raging around us. "Even with this weak body, I can easily defeat you."

I the realness of the situation hit me like a ton of bricks. He was right, I can't beat him by shear force; I needed a real strategy.

Splay looked at me for a moment before saying, "If you want to know the whole story, come and find me. You know where to look."

Then he just... took off; he jumped into the air just as a chopper came into view, and landed neatly in the cockpit. The chopper quickly flew out of sight. Almost immediately afterwards, all of the robots froze for a second before taking to the air. They each had a pair of engines come out of their backs, and flew off in the direction of the chopper.

I stared off into the distance for some time, before I looked around at the damage the machines had done to the town. Houses and shops where trashed, bodies and broken machinery lay everywhere. Cries of mourning Pokémon echoed through my head.

I saw Acero looking at me in horror, and I walked slowly towards him. We stared at each other for a moment, then his face grew hard.

"What did he mean by 'you know where to look for him'?" he asked.

I sighed and said, **"I know where he went."**

"So where did he go?" Acero asked.

**"You shouldn't get involved; you are going to get killed if you do," **I said.

I walked past him and headed toward the castle looking for Korrina and Lucario.

"Wait!" Acero said. "Why is me getting killed a problem?"

I turned and faced him, un-Fused me and Ethan, and looked Acero in the eyes.

"Who's going to defend Alazin if you die?" I asked. "You claim to be the most powerful warrior, so you need to protect your kingdom."

I walked and stood directly in front of him, and put a hand on his shoulder.

"This place needs you. I don't fully understand why you think I am the king here, but I can't stay. I have to go and save the world first," I said with a smile.

He smiled back and nodded.

I turned around and said to Ethan, "Let's go find your sister."

Ethan nodded and followed me. We found Korrina and Lucario sitting on the front steps of the castle. Korrina held a small sword loosely at her side, and was covered in dirt and bruises. Lucario was also dirty and bruised, but was not conscious.

We walked up and Ethan said sarcastically, "You look well."

Korrina huffed and said, "Whatever, you didn't have to fight for your life. Good thing I took those martial arts classes."

I then asked, "What happened to Lucario?"

"He's fine, just got knocked out. We had plenty of help," She looked out at the ruined town. "I feel bad that we brought this on them. So many Pokémon died."

"YOU!" someone shouted.

I turned to see an elder coming from the gate of the castle; he was shaking a finger at me.

"You brought that monster here! You brought him here and he destroyed everything!" he threw his hands in the air. "How on Earth could Acero even assume you're a descendant of Leonidas?"

He marched down the steps and stood in front of me.

He poked me in the chest and said, "You are going to leave this place, and never return, Demon!"

I narrowed my eyes and said, "I just save your city from even more damage than what would have happened, I am the only one capable of standing up to Splay, I can flipping Fuse Evolve, and you have the guts to come and poke me in the chest and call me a demon?" I shoved him and said, "You better be grateful you're not dead by now! I should just go and hide, and let you deal with Splay!"

He was definitely unnerved, but not quite scared.

"I've met with Leonidas! I know more about him than you could dream of knowing!" I spat at him. "You and your elders are a bunch of idiots if you think I brought this on you. We probably would have left you alone if you hadn't had Acero come and get us."

The elder scowled and walked off, and someone tapped me on the shoulder; I turned to see Kobalt, or Sirius, I still couldn't tell.

"Are you guys staying here for the night?" he asked. "We could house you in the castle, then give you supplies and vehicles for your journey."

I looked at Ethan, and a silent agreement passed between us.

I looked back at Kobalt, or Sirius, and said, "I think we might stay a while actually. We kind of feel bad for causing this destruction, so we are going to try and help you rebuild a little bit. Just get you back on your feet."

His face lit up and he said, "Really! That would be great!"

* * *

><p>I opened my eyes and instantly realized I was having a dream.<p>

I was sitting in a chair at a large white meeting table. At the far end there was a wall with a projector screen. On the ceiling there was a projector. I looked around some more and saw Ethan at the other end of the table. He waved to me and I waved back.

"So Lucas, do you know where we are?" he asked.

"No, I just assumed that I was dreaming, but I could be wrong." I replied.

"You are dreaming," a voice said. It came from the projector and it sounded just like Ethan.

The projector hummed to life and the screen lit up. There, on the wall, sat a boy that was the spitting image of Ethan. "This is in fact a dream. I have just pulled your minds to this separate dimension I created just for this purpose." The boy said.

"Okay," I said slowly, "Then who are you?"

"I go by a couple of names, but you will know me by Krominicon; or Kro for short." He said smiling.

"Like crow, as in the bird?" Ethan asked.

Kro laughed and said, "No no, but I am mixed up with that very often."

"So how did you pull us here?" I asked.

"All in good time Lucas. For now, this is just a meeting, we will meet again soon. Until next time." Kro said, then everything went black and I woke in my bed in the castle.

I looked over at Ethan who was also awake. His eyes were wide, I knew we had just shared that experience.

* * *

><p>This last part was kind of last minute. i hope you like it. if you don't leave a review.<p> 


	12. Chapter 11: Recovery

i hope you like this chapter. i published this while waiting in my tech camp class. i am also moving soon so i won't be able to release any more chapters for a little while. please leave a review. enjoy.

* * *

><p>Chapter 11<p>

Recovery.

The Alazin city was very large. The market, which consisted of simple wooden buildings used for displaying goods, was directly in front of the main castle. The market had been trashed by the rampage of Team Spark, and so had the residential area of the city, which was behind the castle.

Also, we actually did get a hot shower because, apparently, part of the deal with the Alazin leaving he rest of Kalos alone was that they got a few useful utilities; such as hot water. After we'd washed up, we headed back to the castle and went up on the front steps, followed by many other Pokémon; Acero soon came up to see us.

"So, how can we help?" I asked.

He rubbed his chin and said, "Well, there isn't much you can do; unless you can lift heavy materials with your Aura, but we already have Lucario's doing that."

"So, you're saying that there isn't much we can do?" I asked.

He sighed. "We are pretty independent when it comes to surviving."

I could tell that there was something he wasn't telling us.

"Is there something wrong?" Ethan asked.

Acero sighed again. "Yes; there were a lot of Pokémon that were orphaned during the fight. As you may know, not all of them are Lucario's or Riolu's. Actually, the majority of them are other species."

"I understand, and it's a shame, but what can we do about it?" I asked.

"I have yet to figure that out," He replied.

Silence followed after that as we watched a crowd of various Pokémon start rebuilding; using either brute strength, Psychic powers or, in the case of Lucario's, Aura to clear away rubble and debris.

"They seem to be taking it rather well," I finally said.

"Well, you could say that we aren't surprised that we were attacked. There was a prophecy, although it was long forgotten," Acero said.

"They seem quite adept at rebuilding," Ethan said.

"We have had lots of practice over the years."

"Hey, I've got an idea," Ethan said. "Do you think we could go and entertain the orphans?"

Acero thought about this and said, "That isn't a bad idea."

"Okay, sounds like a plan. By the way, where are Korrina and Lucario?" I asked

"They woke up earlier to help. Korrina might be with the orphans, but I don't know; Lucario is definitely helping rebuild houses, and I think I heard him say something about changing his name too."

I nodded and asked, "Where are the orphans?"

"I think they are behind the castle," Acero said.

I motioned for Ethan to follow me. We circled the castle and found scores of young Pokémon watching a puppet show being displayed by a couple of Zoroark's. I saw Korrina sitting on the ground with multiple small Pokémon sitting on her lap, head, and shoulders.

We walked over, weaving in and out of the groups of little Pokémon. Most of them stayed with their same species, but there were the occasional group of different ones. We sat down next to Korrina, who smiled at us.

"You seem to be very popular with the kids," Ethan said as he sat down on her right.

She laughed and said, "Yeah, they seem to have taken a liking to me; could you take some off me?"

Ethan grinned and said, "I don't know if they would like that."

Almost immediately, an Abra teleported onto Ethan's lap and made himself comfortable; he was soon followed by a Shinx and a Lilipup. Ethan sighed as the Abra teleported onto his head to make room.

I sat down on Korrina's left, looked around, and saw a Riolu standing nearby. He was looking over at us nervously. I waved to him and he hurried over. He plopped himself down right in my lap, snuggled up against my chest, and closed his eyes. A quick glimpse at his emotions revealed a lot about him. Apparently both his parents had died saving him, and coming over and sitting with me had helped comfort him a lot. I guess that's all any of these Pokémon need; a home, and someone to love them.

My heart was all warm and mushy at this point, and I thought I might cry. We just sat there for the next hour or so, just keeping the little Pokémon company while they watched the puppet show; which was about a warrior saving a kingdom from an evil demon. The little ones would take turns sitting on Ethan and Korrina's lap, but the same Riolu sat with me for the entire time. He never moved, and no one ever came to take his spot. My back eventually got sore from sitting up for so long, but I didn't move.

Eventually the play ended, and the Zoroark's left; I looked at Ethan when no one else showed up in front. He shrugged and stood slowly, gently helping the Pokémon that occupied his lap off. I started standing and discovered that the Riolu sitting on my legs had fallen asleep. I didn't want to be rude and wake him, but I needed to help Ethan. I shook his shoulder and he looked up at me with groggy eyes.

"I need to go and help Ethan, okay?" I said softly; he nodded and I gave him to Korrina.

I stood and followed Ethan to the front.

"So," he asked. "I guess it's up to us to entertain them; have any ideas?"

"Just one," I replied.

I focused on Ethan's consciousness and fused us; the bright flash seemed to catch everyone's attention. I looked out at the crowd, and all of them looked back in a mixture of shock and awe. I carefully readied a controlled Aura Sphere, and shot it into the air, making it explode at its apex in a shower of sparks like fireworks. Apparently my electric Aura had some interesting, and useful new properties.

I readied two more and shot them simultaneously into the air; at this point, everyone's eyes were as big as dinner plates.

_"Can you change the color?" _Ethan asked.

I focused harder on my next one, and willed it to be green; to my surprise, it actually changed color. And when I shot it into the air, it created a large green explosion.

I started launching different colored explosions, and the young Pokémon seemed absolutely enthralled by my pyrotechnics show. I soon started experimenting with shapes, making cubes and triangles rather than just spheres; this awed them even more. The Zoroark's that left earlier came back and joined in, using illusions rather than actual explosions.

The audience began to grow immensely, as everyone who passed stopped to see what was going on. This went on for at least another hour, as I went from shapes to different species of Pokémon. It ended with a battle between me and all of the Zoroark's, in who could create the most complicated shape out of light. They ended up winning, having more practice at stuff like that than I did.

I dropped my sore arms to my sides, and looked at the crowd; it was no longer just orphaned Pokémon, there were lots of older ones standing in a huge crowd behind the younger Pokémon.

_"You put on quite the show," _Leonidas said, obviously not invited. _"Everyone loved it."_

_"Good of you to show up," _I said back to him as I waved at the cheering crowd.

I noticed a Lucario that was wearing a hood. _"Why are you hiding in the crowd?" _I asked.

He was silent for a moment before he said, _"I'm on even in the crowd; I am just in your head having a conversation with you."_

_"Then who is that in the crowd wearing a hood?" _I asked, suddenly worried.

_"I don't know; why don't you go and find out?" _He said, and then he left.

I then unfused me and Ethan, making sure that he still had his clothes on, and saw the cloaked Lucario start leaving. I motioned for Ethan to follow me.

We went up to Korrina and I said, "I am going to investigate something, keep them entertained."

I started walking away, but was stopped when someone grabbed my hand. I looked down to see the Riolu from earlier holding my hand.

"Can I come?" he asked softly.

I shook my head and bent down. "No, not right now," I said, then I turned and left.

_"Klang, turn into a motion detector again and track that guy we saw with the cloak," _I said.

He replied by attaching to my ear, and put the display in front of my eye; a little red dot among a sea of green dots located the cloaked Lucario. I entered the crowd as they began to disperse and get back to what they were doing.

We kept following the Lucario until we were in a part of the city that wasn't destroyed; it had lots of modern looking buildings with electricity, and multiple alley ways. We followed our target into one of the alleys; a rather thin one.

We stepped into the shadowed alley and we saw the Lucario at the end of it. We began walking towards him. Almost immediately, more cloaked Lucario's jumped down from the roof and blocked our exit. I attempted to make an aura sphere as they began to close in, but I wasn't able to. I tried again, this time I focused harder, but I only got a flicker.

"That isn't going to work here. We have devices that suck away your Aura when you use it," The largest of the group said; he looked an awful lot like Ares.

I growled and attempted to fuse me and Ethan, that didn't work either.

"Klang, turn into a sword," I said.

He complied and turned into the same broad sword from before; I held it threateningly in front of me.

"Why haven't you fused us?" Ethan hissed in my ear.

"I can't," I whispered back.

"What do you mean you can't?"

"The devices they're using must make it impossible to fuse as well," I said back.

"Then give me a weapon," He said nervously as the Lucario's began moving in.

"Klang, separate and give Ethan a sword," I said to Klang.

He did so, making my broad sword shrink considerably. Ethan hefted the sword and swung it experimentally. He grinned wildly.

"You take the one behind us, I'll take the rest."

Ethan nodded and faced the Lucario that had lured us here.

The Lucario that looked like Ares laughed. "You won't be getting out of this alive. We already have a plan staged so it looks like an accident."

He removed his hood, revealing that it was in fact Ares.

My eyes got wide and I said, "What are you doing? I thought we were on the same side."

He didn't respond but instead charge at me raising his fist to hit me. I sidestepped and stuck my foot out to trip him; I seriously did not want to hurt him. I was charged again by one of his partners but I dodged him easily as well.

"What are you doing Ares?" I shouted.

"I am starting a revolution!" he said standing up. "Those stupid humans took over our land and we are going to take it back."

"What are you talking about?" I said dodging a punch.

He didn't respond but instead dived at me. I didn't bother to dodge it and he tackled me at the gut; I didn't tip over. He had his arms wrapped around my waist with his head just below my chest. I put my hands together and brought the hilt of my sword down on the back of his head, probably giving him a concussion. He refused to let go so I kneed him in the face, knocking him out and giving him a bloody nose.

I turned back to his partners when I heard someone shout "STOP!"

I looked toward the entrance of the alley and saw the Riolu I had left behind with Korrina; he was panting and had wide eyes. One of the cloaked Lucario's darted forward and grabbed him.

"You come with us, and we will let the kid go; otherwise we'll just kill him," the Lucario said; had removing his hood to reveal a scar across his left eye.

The Riolu started squirming but the Lucario tightened his grip. I looked at Ethan who was standing victorious over his opponent, than I looked back at the Lucario with the scar. Aside from him, there was only one Lucario still standing.

_"Klang," _I said telepathically, _"can you turn into some kind of projectile?" _I asked.

_"Yes, I can launch myself then change into an arrow in midair," _He replied.

I eyed the other Lucario and said, _"Hit both of them at the same time. Hit the guy with a scar in the forehead, and the other one in the arm."_

He changed ever so slightly, then two pieces of metal flew off of him and sharpened in the air faster than either of them could react. Both arrows hit their marks perfectly. The Lucario holding the Riolu died instantly, and the other Lucario fell over in pain.

The moment they fell, I dove and caught the Riolu before he hit the ground. Klang recalled the arrows and reattached himself to my wrist as a bracelet. I set the Riolu down and walked over to the only conscious Lucario left.

I bent over, put a knee on his chest, and said very quietly, "If you want to live, you will tell whoever you work for to end your operation immediately and to never bother another soul again."

He began nodding frantically and I let him up; he dashed off out of the alleyway, and I looked down at Ares' limp body.

"Klang, locate the devices that are hindering my aura; copy them, then destroy them," I said.

He immediately shot two arrows up into the crack between the roof and the wall of the adjacent building, and there were two shattering sounds, and I felt a rush of Aura after it being suppressed for so long. I used my Aura to lift Ares into the air, and I began to walk toward the castle. The Riolu fell into step on my right, and Ethan did the same on my left.

I looked down at Riolu that was walking beside me and asked, "What's your name?"

He looked up to make sure I was talking to him and said, "Roy."

I smiled and said, "Well, it's nice to meet you Roy."

We made our way to the castle, with Ares floating behind us. We located Korrina still with the orphaned Pokémon, telling different stories. I had Ethan go and get her so we wouldn't alarm the little Pokémon. Many groans could be heard from the crowd as she had to go.

When they got to where I was standing a little ways off, I informed her of what had happened.

"So you were attacked by anarchists?" Korrina asked.

Ethan shook his head and said, "I guess; I don't really know what they were."

"Oh, well then shouldn't we find Acero or something?" she asked.

"Yes," I said. "Lets go."

Acero was sitting on the steps eating a sandwich when we arrived. When he saw us he stood up sharply and said, "What did you do to Ares?"

I began to explain what had happened; when I finished, he nodded thoughtfully.

"This is very disturbing; follow me, we need to tell the elders."

He quickly finished the rest of his sandwich and we entered the castle. The guards stopped us and said that Roy couldn't go in; but Acero said that he was with us, and they let him by. We made our way to the very end of the hallway and pushed the door open. Once again, they seemed to be having a meeting about some problem; but when we came through they stopped the conversation all together.

"We have a situation," Acero announced.

A female elder said, "Explain."

Acero motioned for me to continue and I retold the story.

One of them motioned to Ares, who I had set down on the ground, and said, "Wasn't he one of your bounty hunters Acero?"

Acero nodded and said, "One of my most trusted; he gave no inclination that he was affiliated with them."

"Wait," I said, "who's 'them'?"

"We don't really know," A male elder said. "They have never revealed their name and haven't attempted this sort of thing in years."

A female elder piped in, "They are a secret organization that is trying to start a rebellion. They aren't satisfied with our current boundaries, and believe that Kalos should be theirs rather than the humans; along with the new advancements in technology. They have been up to their antics ever since humans set foot on Kalos, but us being fairly peaceful kept them at ba,y and made it hard for them to find people who thought the same way."

"Why do you think they attacked me?" I asked.

"Well Lucas," the female elder said, "I think that it is because you are the supposed king, but we have yet to confirm that."

Suddenly, Ares started coughing; he rolled over onto his hands and knees and dry heaved a couple times, before falling over onto his shoulder and moaning. Everyone was watching him.

"Is he alright?" one of the elders asked.

I laughed and said, "No, I gave a pretty bad concussion and a bloody nose." My smile faded. "Then I killed one of his partners."

Everyone in the room went dead silent.

"He was holding Roy here. and threatened to kill him; so I had my friend here shoot a metal arrow at him," I lifted my arm with Klang on it. "It hit him right in between the eyes, killed him instantly."

"Well, you were fighting in self-defense, and the defense of a child," Acero said. "I don't think anyone would fault you for that."

The elders put in their agreement and I relaxed a little.

"Thank you for warning us," The same female Lucario said. "We will have Ares put in custody and interrogated. This might be the first of many attacks."

Acero nodded and we left; when we got outside I got my first real glimpse at the progress they'd made in rebuilding. The market already looked like it did when we first arrived, if not better.

We walked around the castle and saw that the houses that were already done, and looked like normal houses you would see in a human neighborhood. The orphans had apparently dispersed, because the back wall of the castle was completely empty. Roy however was still with us.

"So," I said to Acero, "you guys seem to have yourself handled pretty well. I think that we can leave, unless there's something we can do?"

He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly and said, "Actually, there is something you can do."

I nodded and said, "Yes, what is it?"

"Could you take Roy with you?" he asked. "You two seem to have connected really well, and I just thought that it would be appropriate for him to go with you; especially since we needed to find him a home anyway."

"Yes, of course," I said, and looked down at Roy who was smiling from ear to ear.

"Good," Acero said.

"Wait, what about the other orphans?" Korrina said.

"We'll find them homes to live in; they'll be well taken care of," Acero assured her.

Korrina looked satisfied.

"Okay then," Ethan said clapping his hands together, "where do we get supplies to go?"

"We need to find Lucario first," Korrina said.

"I'm right here."

We turned around and saw him walking up to us.

"Oh, well we are getting ready to leave," I said.

He sighed.

"Is something wrong?" Korrina asked.

"Yeah, you could say that," He replied.

"Well, what is it?" I asked.

"I've been thinking about how Lucas changed his name instead of being just 'Lucario', so I want to change my name to something else as well," He said.

"Okay," Korrina said, obviously confused. "What do you want your name to be?"

He thought for a moment before saying, "I think Razor would be a cool name."

I sighed and said, "Why don't you do something simpler; Razor makes you sound like an assassin."

"Oh," he said.

I patted him on the shoulder and said, "Just keep thinking about it."

He nodded, and I turned back to Acero.

"So, like we said before, we need supplies and transportation," I said.

"Well we can get you supplies, but I'm afraid I can't offer you much in the way of transportation," Acero replied.

I thought about it for a minute, then Ethan snapped his fingers.

"Hey Lucas," he said, "Klang absorbed those cool dirt bikes we got from team Spark, right?"

"Yeah, that's right," I said, getting his point. "Klang, do you think you reconstruct those bikes for us?"

"Sure," Klang said. "No problem."

Klang launched himself off my arm and landed on the ground where he began to writhe and bubble, becoming bigger and bigger until he was a grey metallic mass the size of a small car. His form quickly began to solidify into distinct shapes, and soon the outlines of the three bikes were clearly visible. Moments later the bikes were lined up in front of us, as if Klang had never touched them. Klang jumped off the closest of the bikes, and reattached to my wrist as a bracelet.

"Nice work," I said, thoroughly impressed.

"Like I said, no problem," Klang replied, with just a hint of pride.

Acero looked a little weirded-out, but he obviously decided not to question it; but then he thought of something.

"That's fascinating and all," he said, "But I'm going to have to ask you not to ride those until you're a good ways away from the city at least."

I shrugged. "Okay, we can walk them until we're far enough away; deal?"

"Sounds good," Acero agreed. "Now then, let's see about those supplies."

After stocking up on food, fresh clothes, and a few other things, we headed for the main gate pushing our dirt bikes along beside us; with Roy sitting on mine. Walking through the city, there was now no obvious signs that it had been attacked just yesterday; everyone seemed happy, and even content. It made me a little sad to leave. Still, there were things we needed to do and places we needed to go; we couldn't afford to stay here, and if we did it would probably just get attacked again. I looked down at Roy and he smiled back, and I found myself smiling as well. I set my sights on the main gate of Alazin.

"Lumiose, here we come."


	13. Chapter 12

sorry this chapter took so long to get out. i wanted it to be pretty good. also there is a little surprise that most of you might notice.

i would like to once again thank Jack Storm448 for help me out so much on this story. if you haven't red any of his fan fics you seriously should.

also, the reason it doesn't have a name it because i couldn't think of one, if you have an idea i'd like to hear it and maybe i use it.

anyway, i hope you enjoy this unnamed chapter.

(sorry jack told about the whole double thing. i fixed don't worry. i think.)

* * *

><p>Chapter 12<p>

One week was how long it took us to get to Lumiose; one long, boring week of living in the woods. Every day was the same; get up, eat breakfast, ride for a few hours, eat lunch, train for an hour, ride again, eat dinner, then go to bed.

It became very mind numbing. Eventually I didn't even think about waking up, I just started going through the motions. Though Ethan would get a little crazy on his dirt bike, that was about all the excitement had. We met no people and met very few wild Pokémon. When I finally noticed Prism Tower rising in the distance, we all cheered at the sight; everyone except Roy.

Ethan gunned it as we neared the vehicle gate. We were still going off-road so that we could go as fast as we wanted, so we made it there in no time at all and slowed down when we got on the main road. Multiple people gave us strange looks, but no one asked any awkward questions. We attempted to go through the gate, but apparently the police were checking vehicles; they stopped us and asked to see Ethan's license.

Ethan removed his helmet and looked the guard right in the eye; that's when things got crazy.

Almost immediately, a girl passing by screamed at the top of her lungs. "IT'S ETHAN!"

Pedestrians all around us turned and looked at us. Within seconds we were swarmed by a mob of fans; the police were pushing through the crowd and trying to keep the people from blocking the entrance. We eventually got a police escort into the city.

Korrina looked over at Ethan. "Does this normally happen?"

Ethan grinned. "Yep, all the time. It's pretty rare that I wouldn't have to get a police escort."

Korrina looked at me for confirmation and I nodded.

Roy tugged on my arm. I looked down and saw that he was worried about something.

"What is it?" I asked.

He glanced around quickly before looking me in the eyes. "Someone here is a bad guy."

I looked at Ethan; he'd heard what Roy said, and he nodded.

A long time ago I had learned how to block the emotions of others from interrupting my thoughts; so instead of leaving that skill alone I enhanced it and made it stronger, to the point where I don't even think about it. But now I needed to pull that barrier down and look for this person.

I grabbed hold of my mental barrier and tore it down, letting in a flood of emotions and surface thoughts; literally all of the thoughts that I sensed were about Ethan. After sifting through them though, I found one that was dark.

This person's thoughts were corrupted and disorganized; but the one thing that was sure was that he wanted Ethan and me dead, very much. I'm pretty sure that Klang caught on to what was going on because he formed a motion sensor over my eye and signaled where this evil person was.

_"Klang, dismantle the dirt bikes; now," _I said.

He did as I said, and part of him came off of the motion sensor and latched onto my dirt bike first; wrapping around it and shrinking it. It took a lot less time than the first time he did it.

I could tell that Ethan was about to say something, but I looked him in the eye and shook my head ever so slightly. He understood and looked at Korrina and did the same thing. I lifted Roy up and put him on my shoulders.

I waited till Klang was done with our dirt bikes and had him get back onto the motion sensor. It was way bulkier due to the amount of mass he gained.

I suddenly had an idea; there were reporters with cameras showing up everywhere, all I needed to do was wait for the guy in the crowd to make his move. He'd reveal himself, then I'd take him out. It would probably get the attention of Interpol as well, if they hadn't noticed Ethan's sudden arrival already.

I set Roy back down and said to Klang, _"Turn into some light armor; cover my head and arms."_

He answered by covering my head in a helmet, widening the display, and covering my arms in thin protective armor. At this point, a lot of people were giving me strange looks.

I located the guy with my aura and checked on the motion radar to make sure it was the right guy. I began shouldering my way through the crowd toward my target. He immediately noticed me, pulled out a large pistol, and began firing shots into the air. People in the crowd started screaming and running, clearing the area and giving him a clear shot at me and my friends.

Police started approaching, holding their own weapons, but I held my hand out and said, "I got this." My voice sounded slightly metallic.

The police didn't stop though, so I growled and put up a dome barrier of aura to keep anyone from getting in or out; the police ran right into it. With everything cleared, I decided to try and talk my way out of this.

"Who are you?" I asked the man; he had long black hair that had been slicked back onto his head, and he wore a brown trench coat. It was unbuttoned, so I could see all of the gadgets he was hiding under it.

"You wouldn't understand!" he shouted, raising his pistol at me and firing without warning.

I charged him, holding my arms in front of my face to deflect the shots with my thin armor; he didn't budge, and just kept on shooting. The moment I was close enough, I opened my arms and jumped at him with a loud roar, tackling him to the ground.

He lifted his legs up in mid fall, and kicked me in the chest with inhuman strength. I went flying straight up into the air, hit my domed shield. and grabbed onto it using my aura to hold on.

"What do you have against us!" I shouted down at him.

He was shaking at this point. "HE TOOK MY FAMILY! HE TOOK THEM AND, AND-" he collapsed to the ground and began crying.

I dropped down, spinning in the air to land on my feet. "Who's 'he'?" I had a pretty good guess, but I had to be sure.

He looked up at me, tears streaked his face. "Splay; he killed my wife and my only daughter. He slaughtered them right in front of me, then left me with this," he pulled his shirt up and revealed a long scar across his chest and belly. "I wandered alone for four years just to be captured by him. I was in his cells for four weeks, then they tortured me four times. They did something to my head and now all I can do is think about the missions he gives me. He gave me four different powers too, super strength, super speed, super reflexes, and the power to drain the aura from others."

He laughed bitterly. "Seems like he keeps reminding me of the four years I spent alone and lost."

He lifted his empty hand towards me, and I suddenly felt my power being drained away. I panicked; I charged a powerful aura sphere and launched it at him, but he absorbed it before it even hit him.

My energy was getting really low now; I charged him, but he was too fast and dodged me. I remembered my illusion powers and imagined six different versions of myself surrounding him, but nothing happened.

_"What happened?" _I thought.

I growled and used my aura to grab him. Because he couldn't see the aura I was using, it was harder for him to drain it which gave me the chance to drag him towards me while I charged him.

I jumped, grabbed his arms, and surged my electricity. The man screamed, and I pushed even more power into my internal generator. He fell to his knees and dropped his gun, so I let go of him and let him fall to the ground.

I stepped back unsteadily and looked down at him. A gauge popped up on my helmets display that showed his life signs. He was still alive, barely. I dropped the dome shield and fell to my knees.

Ethan, Korrina, Lucario, and Roy came running up to me. Klang tried to turn back into a bracelet, but turned out to be too bulky and instead covered my entire left arm in some light alloy.

"Are you alright?" Korrina asked, inspecting me for wounds; I nodded.

"Why didn't you fuse us?" Ethan asked.

I just shook my head. "It would have attracted too much attention," then I shrugged. "Well I guess that attracted a lot of attention anyway."

Ethan punched me in the arm, which earned him a punch from Korrina.

"Don't jostle him around, he's aura deprived; he needs to rest," Korrina scolded.

I just grinned; then all of a sudden, everything went black.

* * *

><p>I opened my eyes to the same familiar conference room with a projector quietly humming on the ceiling, showing an image of a boy that was the exact same as Ethan.<p>

Krominicon seemed distracted; he was typing on a keyboard and looking at some screen intently.

"Uh, hi?" I said.

Krominicon jumped slightly and looked at me with a look of utter confusion. "How did you get here? I didn't invite you."

I shrugged. "Well I'm here aren't I?"

He nodded."I guess. Just give me a sec, I need to message someone."

He grabbed his mouse and clicked on something, typed a few sentences, then turned his attention back to me.

"So," he said. "Apparently I'm supposed to help you or something." He sighed. "There isn't much I can do right now, but I can tell you that you're going in the right direction."

I cocked an eye-brow. "Is that all you can do?"

"No," he said. "I could literally tell you what to do and how to do it, but then I would be messing with the domains of Dialga and Palkia. Then I would have all sorts of trouble with Arceus and the council; again."

I gave him a blank stare. "What are you talking about?"

He sighed again. "I've already told you too much. Let's just say that I have a lot of power, but no one knows who I am because I'm trapped in an alternate dimension, and this is my only way of communicating with people."

My expression didn't change. "So let me get this straight Krominicon; you got in trouble with Arceus?"

Krominicon huffed. "I prefer to be called Kro, and yes I did get in trouble with Arceus. I am quite infamous among the legendries."

"That doesn't sound like something you should be proud of," I said.

"Now Lucas, just because I accomplished this doesn't mean that I'm proud of it," Kro said. "But I kind of am."

I rolled my eyes. "So, how do I get out of here?"

"I need to let you out," Kro replied.

I waited. "So... are you going to let me out?"

"Oh, right," he said; then everything went black.

* * *

><p>I woke up staring at the dark ceiling of the Pokémon center. I looked around and saw Ethan sitting in a chair next to me, asleep. Apparently they had brought me to the Pokémon center to rest.<p>

I moved my head back to staring at the ceiling; I felt stiff and sore all over. I closed my eyes again and tried to think about what Krominicon said, but honestly none of it was very helpful. Eventually I just decided to go to sleep instead of mulling over useless info.

I woke up again to see the ceiling, except it wasn't dark and I could sense people moving around.

I tried to sit up but someone pushed me down, I looked up to see and nurse looking into my eyes. "You need to rest, you almost died yesterday with all that aura you lost."

I grunted. "Where's Ethan?"

"He's waiting just outside the door, but you need to rest; there's nothing else you can do," She said.

I furrowed my brow. "Can't he come in here?"

She gave me a sad look. "No, I'm sorry; I know you want to see him." She stood up. "But you two will never see each other again."

My eyes got wide as she pulled a huge pistol from behind her back, and pointed it at me. I screamed both mentally and physically for Ethan, while at the same time letting loose a pulse of electricity.

The nurse flew across the room and slammed into a table with a sickening snap, and at that moment Ethan barged into the room in a rush. Ethan saw the gun lying on the ground next to the nurse, and then looked at me.

"What happened?" he asked.

"She tried to kill me," I said.

I began to sit up, and groaned from the pain.

"Lucas, sit down," Ethan said.

I ignored him and stood up, and walked over the fallen body of the nurse. I knelt down and felt her neck for a pulse, but found none. I closed my eyes and checked her aura signature, but I didn't sense that either.

"She's dead," I said, and stood up slowly.

The door opened and Looker stepped into the room, wearing his same trench coat and dress shoes.

"So I finally find you; after almost two weeks, you finally decide to show up," He said crossing his arms.

"Sorry, we kind of got kidnapped," I said sarcastically, turning to face him.

Looker rolled his eyes. "We need to get you out of here; someone else will come and get the body."

"Do you even know where we need to go? Or who that guy was? Or what's going on?" I said.

"Seriously," Ethan said. "You're trying to take control of the situation, and you have no idea what's going on."

Looker sighed. "You're right, but unless you want the paparazzi to find you I suggest we leave."

"I think the public deserves some answers, don't you think so Lucas?" Ethan said.

I nodded. "I do Ethan; after all, you're their hero and you need to keep up a reputation."

"Whoa whoa whoa, slow down there," Looker said quickly. "We don't need to do anything rash."

Ethan laughed. "I wasn't threatening," he started for the door but Looker got in the way.

"I can't let you do that," He said, crossing his arms.

I stepped forward. "Yeah, you and what army?"

Looker furrowed his brow. "If you go out there and tell them what's really been happening, there is going to be a global freak out. It will not end well."

Ethan looked at him blankly. "Oh, well then I guess that isn't that great of an idea."

I rolled my eyes. "We need to get to Sinnoh, like right now."

"Why?" Looker asked.

"Because that's where Splay went. He has a new base there, and we need to end this before it gets out of hand," I said very seriously.

Looker nodded. "We have a limo outside that can take you to Coumarine City. There we can get a cruise ship and take you to Pastoria City. We just need to keep a low profile."

"Okay then, let's go and get Korrina, Lucario, and Roy, and we can head out of here," Ethan said.

Looker motioned for us to follow, and then walked out the door; the others were waiting in the hallway. Ethan gestured to them and they stood up and followed us; Roy fell into step next to me and grabbed my hand for comfort.

"What's the plan?" Korrina asked.

"We're heading to Pastoria in Sinnoh," Ethan replied.

"We're going where? Isn't that like thousands of miles away, not to mention across the ocean?" Korrina said.

Ethan rolled his eyes. "We have a ride, duh. Were you honestly worried about that?"

Korrina sighed in relief. "Yes, I was worried about how we would get there."

Ethan laughed and we entered the lobby; you could clearly see the massive crowd through the windows, and I could barely see the limo in the background.

"Uh, are we supposed to go through that?" Ethan asked hesitantly.

Looker laughed. "You'll be fine, the police will clear a path."

Ethan didn't respond. When we exited the building, the crowd erupted in cheers and yells; the majority of the crowd consisted of teenage girls. Ethan waved his hand and slapped a couple of high fives along the side of the pathway.

We finally got into the luxurious limo, and I had Roy sit on my lap as he looked around the vehicle in awe.

"Sometimes I wish I wasn't famous," Ethan sighed.

I scoffed "Whatever; you love all the attention."

Ethan grinned and looked out the window at the crowd.

"Well," I said, "We're off like a herd of Tortuga."

* * *

><p>Splay was standing in front of the old Alpha base. A huge building made almost entirely of concrete, literally buried into the side of a hill; it was well camouflaged and difficult to find, which benefited him greatly in the middle of the Sinnoh region.<p>

Splay grinned, and turned around to look at the small group of workers and scientists he had brought with him.

"Our base in Kalos has been compromised," he said loudly enough for all of them to hear. "We shall take this one instead for our main base of operations. Now get to work, we are expecting company soon."

His grin grew wider as everyone started moving gear from the helicopter into the old run-down building.

* * *

><p>The limo ride to Coumarine had gone uneventfully; no one attacked us or stopped us. We only had one conversation through that whole thing; it went a little like this.<p>

"So did you ever figure out who that guy was that attacked us is?" I asked.

Looker shook his head. "His finger prints had been burned off, and all of our DNA tests showed that he had no living relatives. He wouldn't talk to us when we interrogated him, and we can't really threaten a man who doesn't love anyone and owns nothing but the clothes on his back. We found all sorts of gruesome gadgets on his person, or in his person I should say; someone surgically put all sorts of killing weapons inside of him. He had scars everywhere on him. He still won't tell us his name; we could resort to torture but that's only if nothing else works, and I mean nothing."

I was shocked by this news. "Why would you torture him?"

"He could have all sorts of useful info inside that head of his, but he hasn't said a single word; he won't even look anyone in the eye," Looker replied.

"Oh."

That pretty much ended the conversation; the rest of the ride was just small talk.

When we finally arrived at Coumarine, we found an unexpected surprise. I exited the limo after Ethan did, and bumped into him.

"Ethan, you need to move so we can get out," I said, but Ethan didn't respond. "What are you staring at?"

I followed his gaze, and suddenly understood why he had stopped. About twenty feet away stood Serena, wearing a brown trench coat that showed she was with Interpol, talking to two other members of Interpol.

She turned towards us, and froze when she saw Ethan and me. She frowned and walked over to us.

"Where have you been?" She said angrily.

"Long time no see Serena," Ethan said.

She slapped him so fast I didn't even see it coming.

Ethan stumbled a little to the side and looked at her. "What was that for?"

"I haven't seen you in almost a year because you're so busy all the time, then you go missing all of the sudden and Interpol keeps calling me and asking me questions about you. I ended up joining them just so I could keep an eye on you. Then you show up randomly on dirt-bikes with a new addition to your little group!" she shouted. "Where on Earth did you go?"

"We we're kidnapped," I said. "Then we escaped and travelled for days to get to Lumiose." I purposefully left out the part about Alazin.

She looked surprised at first that I could talk, but then regained her composure. "Whatever," she huffed.

Everyone had filed out of the limo and were waiting.

Ethan was rubbing his cheek. "You didn't need to slap me."

"I think that I did," She said. "Anyway, I am going to come with you guys, I've been assigned to protect you at all costs."

Ethan laughed. "We can protect ourselves, we don't need you to do that for us."

"Well, I've been given an assignment and I am going to follow through with it," Serena said. "I don't care if you can or can't protect yourself, I'm coming with you."

"And I'm not complaining, but we just don't need yo..." I stopped Ethan from going on by elbowing him in the ribs and knocking the air out of him.

He fell over onto the ground and I smiled at Serena. "We'd be delighted if you join us, wouldn't we guys?" I turned around to look at everyone else to see if anyone disagreed; no one spoke up. "Well then, why don't we get this show on the road."

Ethan stood up and put his hand on my shoulder for support. "Looker," he wheezed, "What's the hold up?"

"What are you talking about, we can go when you guys are ready," He said.

"Oh, well where is our ride?" I asked.

Looker pointed a yacht parked in the dock.

"Well, all aboard then!" I said.

* * *

><p>The upgrades to the old Alpha base were going smoothly; Splay smiled at how close he was to his goal.<p>

"Sir," one of the grunts he had called for had brought him his report. "Ethan and Lucas have left Coumarine and are on their way here. We have about a week until they arrive."

Splay nodded and dismissed him.

_"Everything is going according to plan," _Splay thought.

* * *

><p>We were barely an hour into our journey when I found the hard way that I am not good with boats.<p>

"Are you okay Lucas?" Serena asked.

I jumped slightly, which made my pounding headache pulse, and turned away from the railing of the yacht.

"No," I groaned. "I think I'm sea-sick."

"I think we have some medicine for that."

"That would be amazing," I said, turning back to the railing and looking over the edge.

Serena left to go and get the medicine, and Roy came over and tugged on my elbow.

"Will you come play in the pool with me?" He asked.

I sighed; the yacht had a large pool on the main deck and currently I was the only one not in it.

"How about after Serena gets me some medicine; I'm not feeling all that great."

"Why?" Roy asked.

"I'm sea-sick, and Serena has some stuff to make me feel better," I replied.

"Oh," he said, and he sat down next to me and leaned against the railing.

Serena finally arrived holding a pill bottle and a glass of water. I took then gratefully and downed three pills; the effect was almost instant and it hit me like a wave.

"Whoa."

"Feel any better?" She asked.

"Oh yeah," I said as I started moving away from the railing; Roy got up and followed us.

"Just keep the pills, you'll want them."

"Thanks," I said, and Serena went back into the cabins.

"So can we go to the pool now?" Roy asked.

I smiled. "Yes, we can go."

At that same moment I sensed something powerful in the distance. I looked off in the direction we we're headed. The feeling was small and I wasn't worried about it, so I filed it away in my memory for later.

* * *

><p>That night, I opened my eyes to see the same little office room once again; except this time it's occupant was paying attention. Kro's eyes were wide and frantic, and his normal background was pitch black except for a soft glow that illuminated his face.<p>

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "No, Splay found me. Somehow, he figured out how to open dimensional rifts. Palkia shut him down but not before he found out where I had made my dimension. He sent some crazy mutated Pokémon after me. It doesn't need to eat or drink to stay alive, it doesn't sleep, it has a crazy sense of smell and hearing. For all I know, it doesn't even need to breathe."

"So why did you call me here if you're on the run?" I was most definitely worried at this point.

"I need to give you some vital information.." he paused and looked over his shoulder. "There is a boy in Pastoria you're going to meet, his name is Jack Storm. He knows where Splay's base is, ask him where it is." Something behind him rustled, and his eyes grew wider. "You need to hurry; at all costs make him take you there."

A pair of red eyes appeared behind him in the darkness.

"This could be the last time we meet," He said, then his composure completely changed; he loosened up a bit and his eyes started glowing bright white. "Good bye, and good luck."

He grabbed the top of the camera and pulled down. For a split second I heard him scream, and then everything went black.

* * *

><p>I shot up in my bed screaming.<p>

Ethan was shaking my shoulders and shouting my name.

"LUCAS! CALM DOWN!" He shouted and I immediately shut up.

Roy was at the edge of my bed with eyes as big as dinner plates. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

I didn't respond. I just stared off into space thinking about what Krominicon had said.

"Lucas!" He slapped me across the face hard enough to make my head turn. "Snap out of it."

I looked him in the eye. "It's Kro, Splay got him."

Ethan went pale.

Serena burst into the room holding an assault rifle. "What in Arceus's name is going on!" she shouted.

"I just had a nightmare, Its fine," I said shakily.

"That must have been one heck of a nightmare then," She said, lowering her gun.

"Yeah," I said quietly, "It definitely was."

No one slept very well for the rest of the night; especially me. I couldn't stop thinking about what Kro might be going through right now, and what he had told me explained the feeling I earlier in the day.

The next three days went by quickly, but I kept on having actual nightmares. Each one was different yet extremely similar. All of them picture me running through a dark hallway made of concrete, and when I looked over my shoulder, there was always some kind of gruesome monster chasing me. The thing that really scared me, was that I was never fast enough to avoid it.

The powerful sensation I felt kept getting stronger, and by the time we got to Pastoria, I had a small headache because I couldn't get it out of my head.

"Well, we're here," Looker said. "You guys have the biggest suite in the Pokémon center; just go and check in, we have some guys that will bring you you're stuff."

Ethan frowned. "Our stuff?"

"You'll see," Looker said, then he ushered us off the loading ramp and pointed us in the direction of the Pokémon center.

The closer we got to the Pokémon center the stronger my headache became.

By the time we were inside the actual building, we had a small group of reporters that had spotted us, and I was about to go mad.

We started heading to our room and I was limping because every step increased the pain in my head, but as we were walking down the hallway it suddenly disappeared; I stopped walking suddenly, making Roy run into me.

I turned and looked at the door I had stopped in front of.

* * *

><p>Jason looked up from his bible, and looked at Jack; he sensed it too. Someone very powerful was waiting just outside their door.<p>

* * *

><p>I extended my aura vision to see who was inside, but before I breached the room a huge auric wall blocked my entrance.<p>

"Lucas what are you doing?" Ethan called.

I just waved for him to keep going and gave him a serious look; he nodded and started moving. Eventually I was the only one in the hallway.

I lifted my hand to knock on the door, and paused. I tried my aura vision one more time, but only found the same result. I knocked on the door and got no response.

* * *

><p>"Keep quiet guys," Jack told his team. "Don't make a move."<p>

Everyone complied, and watched the door intently. The thing knocked again, this time with more vigor.

"Do you think it's... 'him'?" Jason asked his brother.

Jack shrugged. "Only one way to find out; although if it is him, I doubt he'd just come and knock on our door."

Jack cautiously inched his way to the door as the person knocked again with the same vigor.

Jack grabbed the door knob and took a deep breath; he readied a small Aura Sphere in his other hand, and turned the knob quickly and swung the door open to reveal... a Lucario. Albeit one with the strangest aura Jack had ever seen, not to mention his eyes; with one blue iris and one yellow one, and the whites turned jet black.

"Are you Jack Storm?" The strange Pokémon asked.


	14. Chapter 13: Sparring Match

in cooperation with Jack Srom 448 i present to you chapter 13. i actually did this with Jack Storm just because i don't understand his characters like he does.

i know that there were some people that were super excited about this chapter, so enjoy.

* * *

><p>Chapter 13: Sparring Match<p>

"So let me get this straight," I said after Jack had finished his explanation. "Your name is Jack Storm; you were found in a forest as a baby by a family of Lucarios, who decided to raise you as their son, and since then you've developed various super-powerful Pokémon-like abilities. Is that about right?"

"Yeah," Jack said with a shrug. "That actually sums it up pretty well; so what's your story?"

I rubbed my eyes and sighed. "Where do I start?" I paused for a second to think about it. "Well, I was raised by humans, and I never knew my family; or if I even have one anymore. But I think of Ethan like a brother rather than a trainer. I've been on the run for the past two weeks trying to save the world, and I've been tortured and genetically messed with along the way; note the eyes. I've met a person from a different dimension that has been in trouble with Arceus; and then I watched him get attacked by some crazy monster."

I nodded to myself trying to think if I was missing anything.

Jack blinked. "Okay; and here I thought I had a weird life. Still, you haven't told me why you're here."

"Oh right," I scratched my chin. "Well I kind of came here to ask you something. My dimensional friend that I told you about sent me to find you because you know where the old Alpha base is."

"Old Alpha base…" Jack said. "It doesn't ring a bell…"

"Jack," came a voice from behind him.

Jack turned around; the rest of his team of nine Pokemon were sitting stock-still looking at the two of us, but one, a Porygon2, floated over to us and hovered by Jack's ear.

"Thomas?" Jack asked. "What is it?"

"The lab where you found me," Thomas said. "It was run by a group named Alpha."

"Well," I said. "A group call team Spark has taken it over; or at least that's what I was told."

Jack nodded. "And let me guess; Team Spark is bad?"

"You have no idea," I said flatly. "Their leader is a one thousand year old demon; not the nicest person I've met, that's for sure."

Jack blinked again. "You know, right about now my life is starting to sound downright normal."

"I would think not," I said. "You gave me a monster headache the whole way here. I guess it was a kind of beacon for me to find you; but you seem very powerful from my view on your aura."

Jack looked back over his shoulder at a Lucario sitting with the others.

"So we've been told," Jack deadpanned. "Repeatedly."

"Huh," I said thoughtfully. "Would you mind demonstrating?"

Jack sighed. "If you insist; what kind of 'demonstration' would you like?"

I grinned. "how about a spar? I would need to go and get my group first though."

Jack processed the idea, then started to grin as well. "You know, that actually sounds like a good idea; I haven't had a real fight in far too long."

"Okay then," I stood up and said. "I'll go and get my group, and we can take a back entrance out of here. Do you know where an arena or battleground would be?"

Jack grinned even wider. "Who needs one; I fight best where there's interesting terrain of which to take advantage."

I nodded. "I like the way you think. Well, I'll be back in a second," I walked over to the door. "Meet us out back." With that I exited the room and headed down the hallway to our suite, to tell Ethan the news.

Back in Jack's room he and the Lucario, Jason, looked at each other.

"Be careful what you get yourself into Jack," Jason said.

"What?" Jack replied. "He sounds like a nice enough guy, and he's trying to take down an evil organization; what's to be careful of?"

Jason tilted his head sarcastically. "Like you said; that guy's story makes ours look tame. And that's saying something. I just think you should be careful getting mixed up in other people's business."

Jack nodded. "Okay, I'll take that into consideration."

"You're still going to fight him, aren't you."

Jack grinned. "Of course."

"So," Ethan said. "What you're telling me is that this Jack Storm character knows where Splay is?"

I was still grinning like an idiot. "Yeah; and get this, he agreed to spar with me... er, us; he agreed to spar with us."

Ethan rolled his eyes. "Ugh, fine. Come on guys, lets go." He motioned for everyone in the room to follow us out.

We made our way to the lobby and saw that all the reporters and cameramen had left. "We're going to take a back door just in case," I said.

Ethan rolled his eyes again. "Whatever."

I looked at Ethan and motioned to the nurse at the desk. "This means you need to find where it is."

Ethan shook his head and walked up to the nurse. "Is there a back entrance that we can go through?"

The nurse nodded. "This way."

She guided us to a door labeled 'emergency'. She opened it and let us out, then closed it behind us.

No one was outside so I assumed that Jack and his crew hadn't left his room yet.

"Hey," a voice called, and we turned to look; Jack was standing over by some trees a ways away from the Pokemon Center.

"Over here," he called. "I found the perfect spot."

I motioned for everyone to follow me and we made our way over to where Jack was standing.

Jack led us through a wall of trees into a wide clearing; ringed with thick foliage. The floor was covered in leaves and thick grass, and overhead the trees reached across and almost touched at the top, making it look like a high-ceilinged cathedral.

"Hm, I guess you do know where the best spots are," I said to Jack. "Anyways Jack, this is Ethan, Korrina, Lucario, Roy, and Serena." I pointed to each of them in turn.

"Nice to meet you," Jack said.

"Guys, This is Jack Storm." I said. I faced Jack and said, "Shall we get this sparring match under way?"

"Sounds good," Jack said, and walked over to the other end of the makeshift arena.

He turned around and took on a fighting stance. "Bring it," He said confidently.

I grinned widely and looked at Ethan; he rolled his eyes again. I looked back at Jack and shouted "Here we go!"

I mentally grabbed hold of Ethan's consciousness and pulled it towards me. There was a customary blinding flash and when I looked down I was in the all-too-familiar form of Fuse Evolution.

"Ready to get beat?"

Jack looked stunned for a second, then he grinned again. "I was wondering how soon you'd call out your secret weapon; I didn't realize you'd open with it. I have to admit though; I sensed you were more than you seemed, but I didn't expect... whatever that was."

"This is called Fuse Evolution, only the descendants of sir Aaron and Leonidas can use it." I said. "It has it's perks."

"If you're done bragging," Jack said, "Maybe you'd care to put your money where your mouth is; come and get me already!"

I grinned and flared my aura around my arms and legs. _"Klang, hop off and wait with Korrina." _I said to Klang. He responded by jumping off of my arm and onto Korrina's.

When I knew that he was clear, I charged forward with everything I had, my legs pumping as hard as they could underneath me.

I was two feet from Jack and I pulled my arm back for a punch. A split second before I could land it though, Jack grabbed my arm and pulled me into his fist; a move similar to Counter.

Instead of me hitting him, his fist connected with my stomach knocking the air out of me; but I wasn't about to lose to some human. We stood there for a second too long, long enough for me to grab his shoulders and throw him into the air; my aura charged limbs made it feel like throwing a pile of feathers into the air.

I jumped up to follow him and we reached the top of the trees and stood frozen for a split second; I was intending to knock him into the ground, but somehow he righted himself midair and actually shot up higher out of reach.

Instead of following him, I fell to the ground, unable to control my movements in the air. Before I hit the ground, Jack had powered up a small Aura Sphere and shot it down at me.

I sensed it coming, but there weren't many options at that point. _"I make my own options,_" I thought.

I created a thin cup-like shield out of aura right above me, the cup caught the Aura Sphere and I made it wrap around it and contain the explosion.

Unfortunately, I couldn't do much about the whole falling to the ground thing. I hit hard and since I hadn't really had a moment to fully catch my breath, I had the air knocked out of me; again.

Jack didn't wait for me to recover, and instead dropped like stone right on top of me. I saw him pull back his arm for a punch, to bad he was in contact with me. I started my internal generator and unleashed millions of volts of electricity in direct contact with him.

I expected it to fry him, but he didn't so much as flinch. "I probably should have warned you; Lightning doesn't do much to me except get me all charged up."

My eyes got wide as his arm came down to finish the job, but I had a faster thinking process than that. In mid punch, I flung my legs up and kicked him hard in the back, his punch landed just above my head and in between my ears. My kick sent him tumbling behind me as I scrambled to me feet.

I spun around to see him coming back at me even faster than before, but this time I was ready. I lifted my arms and created a thick Aura shield to block him. His punch bent it inwards slightly, but after a second he bounced right off.

I was about to follow up my advantage, but then I heard something in the back of my head. With a start, I realized it was Jack.

_"That was a nice move,"_ he said telepathically. _"Too bad you don't guard your mind like you guard your body."_

I panicked; I had no idea how to guard my mind, I never bothered to learn.

_"Like I said," _Jack continued, _"That's too bad."_

I looked Jack in the eyes, his were glowing With psychic energy. I just smiled and said out loud. "Did you ever learn how to make things with your aura?"

I reached my hands out and trapped Jack in a small thick dome.

"I admit," he said, "The finer points escape me; but I do have some other tricks up my sleeves."

Without any further warning, a wall of Psychic energy slammed into me and flung me into a tree. I groaned. _"This guy is good," _I thought.

I still had a hold on my aura dome though, so I began to shrink it. Jack pushed as hard as he could against it, both physically and mentally, but he couldn't break free. But then suddenly, he just disappeared.

"What the..." I was interrupted as someone grabbed my shoulder. I looked behind me and saw Jack grinning impishly; in a flash of light, we were hundreds of feet in the air.

"Also," he said in a smug tone of voice, "I can Teleport."

Without another word, he flicked me downwards with a blast of Psychic energy; the Earth started rushing up at me. Multiple ideas ran through my head, and one caught my attention.

I dispersed the dome way back down on the ground and replaced it with a giant solid pad of aura.

I didn't even try to make it soft, I made it rock hard. It would hurt like crazy if I hit it, and it was getting closer faster.

I started counting down. _"3… 2… 1..." _At one I made the aura pad thicker and softer. It caught me and I floated inside of it like I was surrounded by jello.

I dispersed it and dropped the last two feet to the ground. Adrenaline pumped through my veins. I looked up to see Jack floating above me; I covered myself in an a skin tight aura shield, and charged a giant Aura Sphere. I planted a small auric tracker on Jack and launched my Aura Sphere; I made the sphere target the tracker so Jack couldn't dodge it.

_"Not that I need to," _he said inside my head.

Instead of trying to dodge the Aura Sphere, Jack charged up an Aura Sphere of his own; from my vantage point on the ground, I could see that he was pouring everything he had into that one attack.

_"Let's finish this, once and for all," _he said, and launched the Aura Sphere.

I watched the explosion in awe. It made the world around me turn dark; I had to look away in order to keep my eyesight. I was almost knocked over by the shock wave.

I watched to see if Jack would fall out of the smoke. I waited for a few agonizing moments before the smoke dispersed. Jack was still floating there, but then his ability failed him and he dropped like a stone.

He landed lightly on his feet, but made no move to attack me; I waited, tensed, for him to make a move, but he didn't.

"Good job," he said simply. "You've officially fought me to a standstill."

I laughed. "Watch this." I did what I had done on that first night with Splay, the same thing that got leonidas's attention. I sent my aura deep into the Earth until I found the everflowing well of pure aura. I dug into and began sucking immense amounts to restore my own.

I was about to launch an attack, but Jack suddenly materialized in front of me and punched me into a tree.

"You mis-understand me," he said. "I don't mean that I can't fight anymore; I mean, that this is a fight neither of us can ever win. We both have powers beyond imagination, and we could both keep on going for quite some time; but neither of us would be able to outlast the other. Eventually, we'd both have nothing left; I've fought to a standstill before, and I know exactly how it feels when it's about to happen. So, can we call a truce without having to see it to the bitter end?"

I was slouched against the tree in total shock. I looked up at Jack. "I understand where you're coming from," I stood up. "But if I can't beat you, how am I going to beat Team Spark? You've never met their leader. His name is Splay, he's crazy powerful. I don't know if I'll be able to beat him at this point now."

Jack smiled tiredly. "There's something you need to understand; the reason why neither of us can win against the other, or at least one of the reasons, is that we're not fighting for anything other than our own entertainment. I feel confident in saying that both of our real powers come out only when we're protecting the people we love; that's also why you can, and will beat this 'Splay' character. And you know why else you're going to beat him? Because I'm going to help you."

I was getting teary. "Aw, look what you did, I'm gonna cry now." I joked.

"That's fine," Jack said; he took a step towards me, but then he stumbled and fell to the ground, exhausted.

"Jack!" came a cry from the foliage around us.

Within seconds, the field was swarmed by Jack's team; Jason and Lucy, an Absol, propped Jack up between them as the rest stared at him in concern.

Jack chuckled wearily. "Okay, so maybe I was bluffing just a little; that explosion _hurt!_"

"Oh, so the rest of your group did come," I sighed. "Here, let me help." I created a link between him and the aura-well. I put some into him just so he could stand up.

"Thanks," he said gratefully. "And I meant what I said about helping you; I'll even teach you to guard your mind if you want."

"How about this; you take us to the old Alpha base, and you can teach me whatever you want on the way; assuming its a ways away." I said.

Jack nodded. "Seems fair, and it is a couple days journey. But in return, you've got to teach me that move where you suck aura out of the ground."

I frowned. "I'll have to ask Leonidas about it. LEONIDAS!" I shouted.

He appeared next to me rubbing his ear. "You didn't need to shout so loud."

"I assume you already know what I'm going to ask?" I asked him.

He nodded. "Yes, I've been watching Jack and his friends on his journey; he seems like a pure, trust-worthy boy, and I think that it would be greatly beneficial to him if he had access to the aura-well."

I looked over at Jack, who was grinning widely. "He said yes."

"Yes!" Jack said enthusiastically.

And with that, Leonidas left.

"Well, since that's over," I focused on Ethan's consciousness and separated us with the usual flash of light; I did remember to make sure he was wearing clothing.

"Whoa," Ethan stumble around, apparently dizzy. "That was a pretty crazy fight."

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><p>please leave a review, i don't get very many and i want to know what you guys think about this crossover thing with Jack Storm.<p> 


	15. Chapter 14: hostages

Once again, in cooperation with Jack Storm 448 i bring the next chapter. i really enjoyed this one, i mean i think that it's my favorite chapter. if you guys don't know what the heck is going on, go and read Jack's rising storm book one. all will be revealed there.

hope you guys enjoy this amazing action packed chapter. remember i need comments and reviews and criticism or i won't ever get any better.

once again, enjoy.

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><p>Chapter 14: hostages<p>

After the sparring match, Jack and his team went to their room and we went to ours. When we stepped into the room we figured out what Looker had meant when he said 'your stuff'. On the floor were multiple large black duffle bags.

Serena walked over to them and unzipped one; she pulled out a shirt and cocked an eyebrow.

"Apparently they gave us a bunch of gear and clothes," she said, setting the shirt back into the bag and opening the one just to the left of it; this time I was surprised when she hefted an assault rifle.

"I don't think that we needed guns like this," Serena said admiring the gun.

"How long have you been with Interpol?" Ethan asked.

Serena shrugged. "Not very long, but apparently I had some hidden skill with guns and weapons that they liked."

"Oh," Ethan said. "What other stuff is there besides guns and ammo?"

Serena began to rummage through the bag pulling out a variety of different sized weapons, ranging from handguns to a rocket launcher that I still don't believe fit in the bag.

"I think this bag is just guns," Serena finally said. "But the others should have different stuff in them."

I walked over to one and unzipped it only to pull a huge wad of cash.

"I think this one is full of money," I said hesitantly.

Serena walked over and dug through the piles of money to no avail.

"I have no idea why they would give us a bunch of money," Serena said.

I just zipped it back up and went to a different bag. When I unzipped that one, I found a strange assortment of gadgets, none of which I can easily describe.

"Uh, what is this?" I said holding up a weapon that looked oddly like a laser gun from some sci-fi show.

Serena grinned. "That is just what it looks like; a laser gun."

"Excuse me?" I said.

She sighed and walked over to the bag I was standing next to.

"Whoa, this is not the normal gear we get for missions; this is high class stuff, I haven't even seen half of these things before," Serena looked like she was enjoying herself.

Serena continued to lay out different items for a little bit, and then she gasped; She slowly, and very carefully, pulled out a small laptop.

"Uh, are you okay?" Ethan asked as Serena rubbed the top with a air of reverence.

"Do you know what this is?" Serena asked.

"I can't say that I do, but it looks like a computer to me," Ethan said.

Serena rolled her eyes. "This is the most powerful computer in the world. There are only five of these in existence because they're so hard to develop," she opened the screen and paused.

she pulled a sticky note off the keyboard and read it out loud. "This is for Klang. I think you'll know what to do with it." She looked at me and said, "Who's Klang?"

I motioned to my wrist and looked down to see that he wasn't there. I laughed nervously, "Where did I put him?"

"Hello." came Klangs metallic voice from the some hidden speakers.

I looked over at Korrina, and remembered that I had left him with her so he wouldn't interfere with the sparring match.

I walked back over to Korrina. "This is Klang, I picked him up at Splay's last base in Kalos. He's pretty useful when he's needed."

"Oh, well what does he do?" Serena asked.

"Just watch," I said.

I gently grabbed Klang off Korrina's arm and he came free. I held him in my hand and mentally told him to turn into a cube. He complied and I walked over to Serena and set him down on top of the laptop.

He melted into the keyboard and it started up. It took a few seconds to boot up, and when it did you could see Klang going through the files on the computer.

"They loaded a bunch of information on Splay and Team Spark onto this. The international police apparently have a spy feeding them information on all of Team Spark's plans," Klang said through the computer's speakers.

A moment later, Klang seeped out of the cracks on the keyboard, and started wrapping around it and deconstructing it. Serena gave a cry of protest.

"It's okay," I said. "He'll be able to put it back together; this just makes it easier to store. In fact, he could probably store everything we have that isn't some sort of living thing."

Serena cocked an eyebrow. "He's totally trustworthy?"

"Yes; well it's not like he swore allegiance to me or anything, but he's been very helpful in the past." I said.

"So," Ethan said. "About having Klang store our gear. How are we going to do that? Is he just going to eat it or whatever like he always does?"

I nodded. "Yes, but it will make him considerably larger."

"We should get going," Korrina said from behind everyone. "It's going to get dark soon."

"So shouldn't we spend the night here?" I asked. "It would be a whole lot easier, plus we need to buy food and supplies. Unless one of these bags has some."

Serena opened another bag to reveal loads of dried food and powdered drinks.

"Well, isn't that convenient," came a voice from behind us; we turned around to see Jack standing in the doorway.

"Oh, uh how long have you been standing there?" I asked.

"I just got here," he said. "Why?"

"Just wondering," I said; then I had an idea. "How are you and your team on money?" I asked Jack.

Jack scratched his head. "Well, it depends on what you're going to buy. I have a few thousand left, but that won't last long if we go spending it all over the place."

I grabbed the bag full of money, and walked over and gave it to him. "Here, Ethan already has a ton of money, we should be fine without this."

Jack took the bag and looked inside with a look of shock. "That's a lot of money."

I laughed, "Yeah, no kidding. Ethan has at least twice that in some bank account."

Jack looked at the money for a second, then he handed it back. "Yeah; I'd love to, but I'd be worried about losing it. I don't really spend anything, so I would just be carrying it around. You could probably put it to better use than I could."

I hefted the bag. "Maybe," I said thoughtfully.

"When do you guys plan on leaving?" Ethan asked.

Jack looked at him and smiled. "Whenever you're ready."

"Serena, does one of those bags have camping gear?" Ethan asked her.

She unzipped the only one that hadn't been opened, and lifted a little stuffed sack with a sleeping bag in it.

"Yep, apparently headquarters thought of everything except how to carry all of this. We didn't even need all of this cash." Serena said.

"As for the money," Jack said, snapping his fingers. "Why don't we just donate it to charity if none of us can use it?"

"I guess," I said. "What else are we going to use it for?"

Ethan agreed and asked, "Is there somewhere here we can do that?"

Jack thought about it for a second, then he snapped his fingers again. "There was that little shelter by the Safari Zone; they looked like they could use some cash."

"Okay then; how about we go drop this money off, have Klang store everything else, and head out," Ethan said.

"Sounds good," Jack replied. "Like I said; it's a few days by foot, so we'd better get going as soon as possible."

"Okay," I said. "Serena and Korrina will stay here and pack the gear and Ethan, Jack and I will go and drop off this money."

Ethan looked at me and frowned. _"Dude, you just stole my thunder," _He said mentally.

I rolled my eyes. _"Whatever; you were going to say the same thing, I just said it for you." _Ethan huffed.

Jack nodded. "Sounds good; let's get going then."

Ethan and I followed Jack out the door and down the hallway. When we reached the lobby, I was surprised to see that the nurse wasn't at the counter.

"Where do you think the nurse went?" Ethan asked no one in particular.

"Probably some other trainer came by and she's in the back with his pokémon," I said.

Ethan looked a little uneasy; I pulled down my barrier that blocked the emotions of others, and sensed no one in the back room. But I did sense a large group of ill-intentioned people outside.

I groaned. "Great, just great," I said. "We have a huge group of people waiting for us outside."

"What do you mean?" Ethan asked. "Is it Team Spark?"

I focused on them for a little bit. "I can't tell," I said finally.

"Well then," Jack said. "I guess there's only one way to find out; you're sure they're here for you?"

I shook my head. "I can tell that they aren't good guys, that's for sure. Do you have anyone looking for you?"

Jack's eyes took on a far-away look, but then he shook his head. "If so, I'd love to meet them face to face. Wait here."

With that, Jack just straight-up walked out the front door; bold as brass.

When he exited the door, Jack found himself confronted by a group of twelve Lucarios; they were all carrying various medieval-style weapons, were wearing dark cloaks with hoods and masks over their muzzles, and they didn't look friendly. They did, however, look more than a little surprised to see Jack.

One Lucario, bigger than the others, stepped forward and addressed him; Jack assumed this was their leader.

"Are you another demon," the Lucario asked angrily. "Your aura is strange."

"Maybe I am," Jack said in perfect Pokéspeak. "But who are you?"

The oversized Lucario hit his chest with one closed fist. "I am Ares; we are here looking for a Lucario by the name of Lucas," he said loudly.

Jack folded his arms, obviously unimpressed. "If you're looking for him, he's right in there," he said. "But I'm afraid you'll have to get past me first; I've agreed to give them safe passage, something about saving the world, and I can't go back on my word."

Inside the pokemon center I suddenly recognized one of the aura signatures. "Ares," I growled.

I stomped to the door and threw it open to reveal an odd sight. Jack was conversing with a group of hooded Lucarios.

"Hey, Ares!" I said loudly, getting the attention of the biggest of the group. "If you don't leave right now, I am going to kill you this time; just like your buddy with the scar."

Jack whistled in an impressed tone. "You really know how to do the 'Intimidation' thing."

I nodded and walked up and stood next to Jack; Ares towered over both of us like a building.

"So, what's it going to be?" I asked. "Shall I make this quick and painless, or do you just want to crawl back to the slime pit you came out of and never let me see you again?"

Ares let a low growl escape his throat. "You dare threaten me? Listen here, puny morsel; I will rip out your throat, take your head back to the elder council, and show them that there is no more king of Alazin. Then we will take over the city, then we will rid Kalos of those disgusting humans."

I laughed. "You really think so? Well then," I got into a fighting stance. "Show me what you're made of."

Ares let out a blood-thirsty roar, and charged at me; the rest of his troops were about to follow suit, but Ares had barely made it five steps before Jack materialized in front of him. Before the large Lucario could react, Jack hit him right in the gut; throwing his entire body into the punch. Ares was launched backwards like a rock from a catapult, and flew several meters before rolling to a stop.

"Sorry," Jack said with a smirk, "But that crack about 'Disgusting humans' got me riled up."

I grinned. "That was pretty awesome," I said. "But now it's my turn."

I looked over my shoulder to see Ethan leaning against the wall of the pokemon center.

"Care to join us?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Fuse us."

I did as he said, grabbing Ethan's arua signature and fusing us with the usual flash of light. When the light dispersed I let loose a ferocious roar and flared my aura around my arms and legs.

**"Ares!" **I shouted.

I charged forward, plowing over the small group of Lucarios, to see Ares standing up and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

He returned my roar with a war cry and charged at me; he was totally fearless.

He pulled his fist back for a punch, but I saw it coming; at the last second I stepped to the side, bent over, and plowed my fist into his chest with multiple snaps of ribs. His arm that he pulled back whizzed right by the side of my head.

We stood there for a second before I pulled my arm back and launched my knee into his chin, kicking his head back with a sickening snap.

Ares fell limply to the ground; dead. I looked back to see Jack knock the last of Ares' lackys down. He looked over at me with a grin and he walked over to me.

I didn't return his grin. **"I hit him harder than I thought. I think I punctured a lung too."**

_"You just killed Ares!" _Ethan said to me.

_"Thanks Captain State the Obvious," _I said angrily.

Jack knelt down and looked at Ares; his grin slowly turned into a frown of disappointment.

"When you said you'd kill him," Jack said slowly, with an air of sadness. "I thought you were being dramatic."

I sighed. **"I honestly didn't mean to kill him, but like i said; I hit him harder than I intended. I thought I might break a rib or two, not collapse his entire chest," **I looked Jack in the eye. **"Do you know how hard it is to break a Lucario's bones?"**

"Do you?!" Jack said, his voice rising in sudden anger. "Obviously not; or you would have held back, against an opponent weaker than you."

I held up my hands defensively. **"Look, its like trying to break a steel rod. I obviously don't know my own strength, I did not mean to kill him," **I put emphasis on those last words.

Jack sighed, his anger turning into a strong feeling of regret. "Yeah, I know; but even so, the fact still remains. He's dead, and you killed him. It's alright if you're facing an enemy on your level, but you need to learn restraint if you're going to be fighting people weaker than you; take it from me."

I frowned. **"Great, thanks for the advice, but is that going to kill Splay? You've never met him, you've never seen what he can do. He leveled an entire city on his own! Is restraint going to kill someone with that much power?!" **I was shouting by the end.

Jack looked up at me, and set his jaw. "Why do you need to kill him; what gives you the right to decide that he deserves death? Are you God? Because I assure you, Splay thinks he is; Splay doesn't think he's evil, no villain does. They think they have the right to do what they do; the difference between good and evil, is that good follows rules. Without those rules, we're no better than Splay; we're just super-powerful beings who go around dispensing what we believe to be justice, even if it's nothing of the sort, and we'd never even be able to tell."

I still wasn't convinced. **"Okay, I get it; Ares didn't work for Splay, but Splay is bent on destroying everything on this Earth. He knows that he's evil. Splay isn't what you think he is. He's not just a normal Blaziken with normal powers. In fact, he's not even a Blaziken, that's just the host body. Splay is a thing called Dark Aura, and he possessed a Pokémon a thousand years ago and caused chaos for years. Sir Aaron and his Lucario couldn't even stop him. You want to hear the whole thing from someone who was there? 'cause i can call Leonidas right now and he'll tell you everything." **I had calmed down, mostly.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Wait a second, Splay is a Blaziken?"

**"Technically, yes; but it's just the body he took over, not his own," **I replied.

Jack sighed. "Look, I'm not going to pick a fight with you; we know how that turned out last time. I just want you to understand that while I'll lead you to Splay, and even help you beat him if I can, I can't condone killing him. If you feel you have to, I won't stop you; but if it's true that he's inhabiting a host body, then what's happened to the former occupant of that body?"

I sighed again and rubbed my eyes. **"I don't really know much more than what i just tol..."**

"I can tell you everything," came the all-too-familiar voice of splay from behind me.

I spun around and gasped. **"You! What are you doing here?"**

"Oh you know, just passing by; collecting a few hostages," he grinned evilly and snapped his fingers. Team Spark grunts came out holding multiple neon-green Pokéballs and pushing Serena and Korrina out the door. One of them was holding Klang, and they had attached some device to him.

"Oh no you don't," Jack said before disappearing into thin air.

**"Jack!" **I shouted. **"You can't beat him!" **As if in response to my words a helicopter flew over the trees in the distance, with some sort of mounted weapon hanging from the side.

I growled and stood my ground. _"That chopper has some sort of gun on it, and I'm not bulletproof. And neither is Jack." _

Jack reappeared next to Serena and Korrina, and put a hand on each of their shoulders. He was about to teleport away with them, when a bolt of Dark Aura blasted him in the chest.

i could sense that Splay was thoroughly enjoying this; watching his victims suffer.

"Now before you make off with my new trophies," Splay said darkly, "i have some things to explain to you."

The Dark Aura that he had hit Jack with now wrapped around him and was holding him in place.

"I could easily take all of you with me, but what would be the fun in that," Splay walked over to Jack and grabbed the top of this head; he forced Jack to look him in the eye.

"So, Jack, would like to hear the entire truth of how I came to be?" he asked.

Jack looked like he wanted to spit in Splay's face, but his curiosity had been piqued. "Well, you seem awfully eager to share."

Splays grin widened and he released Jack head. "Well then, I'll start with telling you who created me," He looked at me. "Darkrai, is my creator. He used me in causing trouble for the legendaries for a very long time, around the time of Arceus's first life," he started making his way over to me.

"But Darkrai was weak, and I could see that in him. So I bided my time quietly waiting for the day when he would make a stupid move," he was now directly in front of me. "One day, he decided he'd had enough of Cresselia messing with his plans, so he attempted to destroy her and make sure she didn't have a heir to take her place. But he failed, and Cresselia removed me from him and banished him to the reverse world," he began circling me, as if i was some kind of art piece that he wanted.

"You could imagine my immense joy at the fact that I was free, but before I was able to do anything on my own, she trapped me in a spell tome and wrapped it in enchanted chains so no one would be able to open it. She buried me hundreds of feet below the Earth, but even miles of dirt wasn't enough to keep me away from the hands of mortals," he began to walk back to the group of hostages; he motioned for them to leave and they began walking toward the position of the helicopter.

He paused so as to let the group leave undisturbed.

I growled, I'd had enough of this. I charged Splay; he wasn't even looking at me when the bolt of Dark Aura trapped me.

Splay looked at me and frowned. "I wasn't finished," he walked over to me and looked me in the eye. "Thousands of years later, an excavation group had found me; they brought me to one of their holy places and put me in a forbidden section. I could sense the goings on of the world around me, and i got wind of a Blaziken that had learned how to fuse evolve; or at least reach that level of power. He was envious of the Lucario's power of aura, and was searching for his own way to have control over it. So I beckoned him, quietly and subtly. He never questioned why he was drawn to book wrapped in chains, covered in strange runes. luckily the enchantments that Cresselia had put on them had weakened, and he was able to break them. I waited anxiously as he slowly opened the book. The first and last thing he ever saw was the room going dark, and him being filled with a well of darkness. I put his aura in a deep sleep that he'll never wake from. And from there, in the basement of some ancient temple, I wrecked havoc upon the region of Kalos, slaughtering millions and millions of humans and Pokémon," his evil grin had returned as he remember those dark times. "Oh what pleasure I got from watching the souls of millions scream in terror as I trapped them and stole their energy, erasing them from existence."

He turned around and walked back over to Jack, by now the chopper had already taken off. "But sadly the number of people to kill diminished and I ran out of energy. Before I went into my catatonic state I needed to deal a crippling blow to the world so when I came back I wouldn't have too much resistance. So do you know what I did? I went to the Hall of Origin, and slayed Arceus himself. He didn't have a heir at the time, so I don't know how he came back, but that doesn't matter anymore. Your friends are all on their way to my base, so now if you ever want to see them alive again you'll come and mee…"

"Hold that thought," Jack said. "You know, you really are something else. Just think, a few minutes ago I actually wanted to spare your life," He laughed bitterly. "But you made one mistake; and it's going to cost you."

Jack smiled; a small smile, with no fear whatsoever. He seemed genuinely amused about something, but I could feel waves of pure, unadulterated anger radiating off him.

"Oh isn't that adorable," Splay said. "You think you can defeat me. Well I guess we'll see in a few days."

"Why wait," Jack said. "I'm not the kind of guy who puts things off."

With that, Jack disappeared again.

Splay's grin faltered. "You won't be able to beat me, no matter how many tricks you might think you're hiding. And if you do anything rash, I'll just squeeze the life out of dear Lucas here. You wouldn't want that now would you?"

_"Like I said,"_ came Jack's voice seemingly from everywhere at once. _"You made a mistake; I stopped playing tricks when you kidnapped my friends. You don't want to know what happened to the last guy who hurt my friends."_

"Oh do tell," Splay said sarcastically.

Nothing happened for several seconds, then I heard a high-pitched noise; I tried to turn my head to look, but Splay's Dark Aura kept me still. The noise intensified over the course of a couple seconds, then…

Splay's grin had disappeared, and changed into a look of frustration. "I think I'll be taking my leave now," he released me from the grasp of his Dark Aura and made a run for it, faster than anything I had ever seen.

He didn't even make it out of sight before… well, it could only be described as a beam of blue light; it came from behind me and hit Splay full-on in the back. The impact seemed to slow down time; and it raised a cloud of dust that obscured the area. When it faded, Jack was standing in the middle of a crater the size of a small car. There was no sign of Splay.

Jack scowled. "He got away."

My jaw dropped. **"Holy crap, did you do that?"**

Jack turned to look at me; he opened his mouth to answer, but then he fell to the ground. Unconscious from exhaustion. A few seconds later, the sonic boom caught up.

Windows all around us shattered, making it seem like it was raining glass. I unfused me and Ethan and we ran over to the crater that Jack was laying in.

Ethan's eyes were as big as dinner plates. "He just did that, didn't he?"

I laughed nervously. "Yeah, there is much more to him than meets the eye."

"I-I'm going to go and check if our gear is still there, or at least some of it," Ethan said, and he ran off on slightly shaky legs.

I began to slowly funnel aura from the aura well into Jack. I heard him groan, but he didn't wake up.

I rolled him onto his back and picked him up; a small crowd of pedestrians was gathering. I hurried to the Pokémon Center and ran into our room. Ethan was on the floor next to a single bag.

I set Jack down on a bed nearby and asked Ethan, "What did he leave?"

Ethan motioned me over without saying anything, and he unzipped the bag. I almost cried, he had left the bag full of money.

"He is so sick and twisted," I said.

"I left this in the lobby, he must have had one of his grunts move it up here," Ethan said.

I sat down in a chair and sighed. "What do we do? Do we leave now, or tomorrow."

Ethan gave me a very serious look. "You're kidding right? That is the dumbest question I have ever heard, of course we leave now. We head to the mart and get gear and leave immediately."

I nodded and stood up and walked over to where Jack was on the bed. I shook his shoulder in attempt to wake him up. The moment I touched him he bolted upright and screamed in rage. I backed off a couple of steps.

"Where am I?" Jack asked angrily.

"Uh, don't you remember?" I asked hesitantly. "You tried to stop Splay from getting away; you failed, but I nearly wet myself."

"I know all that," Jack said. "Actually, I didn't know that last bit; and I didn't really want to. What I meant was, why aren't we already halfway to Splay's base already? Come on!"

"Okay, look; we need to get supplies and stuff before we just wander off into the woods," I said. "And as some kind of sick joke Splay left us with the bag of cash."

Jack nodded. "Well, then go get supplies; we can't afford to stand around wasting time."

"Okay; Ethan, you need to go and get the stuff, mostly because you actually know what to get, and me and Jack will go and check out his room," I said. "Maybe someone managed to hide and stay uncaptured."

"They're all gone," Jack said darkly. "I checked the Pokéballs the grunts were carrying."

I sighed. "Maybe Roy managed to hide," I said to myself. "I'm going to go and look around."

I had to take down my emotion barrier again, apparently I had put it back up without knowing. I did sense someone in the bathroom, this one little sense gave a spark of hope. I charged into the bathroom and looked around.

The curtain to the shower was drawn. I ripped it aside and my eyes widened, as I saw Roy with his arms and legs bound and a piece of duct tape around his mouth; and a bomb strapped to his chest.

I panicked and picked up Roy. I ripped to duct tape off of his mouth and cut the rope with my hand spike. I was about to cut the cord holding the bomb to Roy's chest, but he protested.

"Don't, if you cut that it'll blow up," he said quickly.

"Then what do I do?" I shouted. "I can't just leave this on you!"

Roy didn't respond, instead he just looked me in the eyes, tears began to stream on of his eyes.

I was determined to get this bomb off of him. I took him into the main room and set him on a chair. I examined it and saw a timer, it read 5:37, and it kept going down.

"Um," Jack said, leaning over my shoulder. "Not to spoil the moment, but there's a simple solution here."

"Oh really," I said slightly annoyed. "Would you care to share that with everyone?"

Jack didn't respond; instead he reached over and put a finger on the bomb. He then disappeared, and took the bomb with him; he popped back into existence a few seconds later, minus the bomb.

"How's that for a rough explanation?" he said dryly.

I was about to respond before a loud boom interrupted me.

I cocked an eyebrow. "Where did you take it?" I asked

Jack shrugged and pointed a finger upwards. "About two miles that way; Splay really didn't think that one through."

I made an O with my mouth and stood up. "Well thanks, I guess," I looked at Roy who was looking at Jack in awe.

Just then Ethan stepped through the door, with the black duffel bag looking awfully heavy. "I got enough stuff for a week and dropped the rest of the money off at that place next to the Safari Zone."

I gave him a thumbs up, suddenly remembering that I even had thumbs. "Well, while you were gone I found Roy here with a bomb strapped to him. Luckily, Jack here can teleport."

"Oh, so that's what that boom was. I thought Splay had come back," Ethan said. "That's why I rushed here."

Jack scoffed. "I almost wish he had come back; then we wouldn't have to spend three days looking for him."

I sighed. "You must be very attached to your friends."

Jack looked me in the eyes; there was none of the joy, or sense of humour in them that there had been an hour ago. They'd been replaced with anger; one that he was only keeping restrained by force of will.

"You could say that," he said; then a quickly as it had appeared, the anger was gone without a trace, leaving his old self.

I was honestly a little scared of Jack at this point. "Well, we should head out if we're ready," I said motioning to the door.

Ethan scowled at me and said. "Yes, lets go."

I rolled my eyes at him and followed him out the door.

We walked down the hallway and saw that the lobby was completely full of trainers.

_"What did Splay do?" _I thought.

Ethan just pushed through the crowd, everyone was too worried to recognize him. We managed to push our way out the door and onto the street. It was packed with more trainers.

We made our way to the North end of town.

"How well do you know your way to the old Alpha base?" I asked Jack.

Jack sniffed the air. "I've travelled this path before; I'm just retracing my steps. I know the landmarks, and besides," his eyes flashed gold for a split second. "My friends are in danger, and I can always find them."

"Okay then," Ethan said. "Shall we?" he motioned to the path.

"Indeed we shall," Jack said, and started walking. "Follow me."

* * *

><p>so, how did you guys like that? pretty awesome right? please tell me how i do in the review part, it helps a ton. and ideas for future plot lines will not be put down. i also have an idea on a sequel so if you guys want to see that you should tell me. anyway, i will be getting my next chapter out on time i believe. so see you next time i guess.<p> 


	16. Chapter 15: The Calm Before The Storm

I managed to get this out ontime. *YAY* and once again i give another Kro Jack cooperation. this chapters name has no pun intended, for those of you who caught onto that. anyway, i really really really enjoyed righting this. i just love the dramaticness of it. (i know that isn't a word, but still.)

i do hope you enjoy this, not a ton of action but there is some fun stuff near the end. please review i need people to tell me everything wrong with this so i can get better and hopefully have better chapters in the future. i also have an amazing idea for a sequel for those of you who want to see that.

anyway, happy reading everyone, enjoy.

* * *

><p>Chapter 15: The Calm Before The Storm<p>

Splay walked down the hall, passing many of his scientists and grunts. he turned right into the cell halls, and walked down to the very back and looked into the one of the cages; it was Jack's Lucario, Jason.

"Don't get comfortable," Jason said grimly. "Jack is going to come for us; and when he does, you'd better watch out."

Splay laughed. "Yeah, whatever you say." he continued walking down until he met Serena, who was outside Korrina's cell, trying to convince her that she isn't a traitor.

Splay stepped next to Serena. "You're not going to convince her you know," he said to her. "But," he looked at Korrina.

"Your friend here is telling the truth," Splay said to Korrina.

Korrina spat on the ground. "She's no friend of mine," she crossed her arms defiantly.

"Oh no, you don't understand. I was the one who organized for her to join the international police, I was the one who made sure she was given the mission to protect Ethan and Lucas. I was the one who took her Pokèmon and threatened their lives if she didn't cooperate," Splay flashed that evil grin. "None of you are going to escape this, and Serena knows this, but trainers like her would do anything to keep their beloved Pokèmon alive. That's why Jack, Ethan and Lucas have a one hundred percent chance of ending up here."

He turned and left, passing by the cell holding all of Jack's Pokèmon, then the cell holding his most prized trophy; Krominicon.

Splay looked at the crumpled body of the author.

"Splay," he wheezed. "You're afraid; I can sense it."

Splay scowled at him. "You're delusional, you have no idea what you're talking about."

A sickening pop came from tKrominicon's body.

"Stop trying to heal yourself; you have too many cuts and broken bones, it will take you weeks."

Krominicon managed a grin on his disfigured face. "You won't win this fight, and you know it."

Splay lifted his hand and shot a bolt Dark Aura and knocked him out.

* * *

><p>"Alright," Jack said. "I said I'd teach you some mental combat techniques, so let's get started."<p>

It was late in the evening on the first day of our trip; we'd set up camp for the night, and Jack insisted that we use the time productively. Apparently that meant teaching both me and Ethan how to fight with our minds.

Ethan groaned. "Can't we do it while we walk or something? I'd like to just go to sleep right about now," he looked at the tents longingly.

"So let me get this straight," Jack said. "You think you can engage in rigorous mental exercises and, eventually, a full-on mental sparring match with me, while also trying to walk? We get to that tomorrow."

Ethan rolled his eyes, stood up from the log he'd been sitting on, and sighed. "Fine," he grumbled. "Let's get this over with."

I patted him on the shoulder. "That's the spirit!" I said.

"Why does Roy get to go to bed?" Ethan complained again.

"Because I don't think Roy will be fighting Splay," Jack said. "And besides, he's a growing Riolu; he needs his rest. You, on the other hand, can handle it."

"Isn't Lucas going to be doing all the fighting? I mean, he's the one that controls the body and all, I just don't see why I have to do this too," Ethan said; he was starting to really annoy me.

Jack grinned; he'd been waiting for that question to be raised. "Actually, that's exactly why you need this training; because Lucas controls your body, and you're left doing pretty much nothing. But if you learn how to fight with your mind, then you can attack him from two angles at the same time; Splay is powerful, but there's only one of him. I doubt he can focus on guarding his mind and fighting physically at the same time; at the very least he won't be able to fight as well as he normally does. But since you'll be working together, you won't have that problem."

"Huh," Ethan said thoughtfully. "I see your point."

"Two heads is better than one," I said. "Shall we get started?"

"Indeed," Jack replied. "The first thing you need to learn is how to defend against mental attacks; fortunately, that's actually fairly straight forward. You were on the right path when you tried that stunt during our battle Lucas, but it was a bit crude. If someone is trying to read your thoughts, the first thing they'll see is your surface thoughts; but if you think about a single image, and that image is strong enough, then they won't be able to see anything other than that."

I nodded. "So what you're saying is that if I think about, let's say a shield, and I don't think about anything else, you won't be able to read my mind?"

"Oh, I'll still be able to read your mind," Jack said. "But all I'll see is that shield and nothing else; there are more sophisticated ways of blocking mental attacks, but unfortunately Solomon hasn't started teaching me those yet. But for right now, this will be good enough; so, let's begin."

Ethan put on a poker face. "Come at me, I'm ready."

"_Interesting,"_ Jack's voice said in my head. "_A sword and shield; nice imagery, although in my experience simpler works better. The idea is to block your opponent, yes, but you still have to be able to concentrate on other things; otherwise what good is it? Same with you Lucas; while that's an inspirational scene, imagining a full-on battle between you and Splay might take up a little too much of your attention while… well, while you're in a full-on battle between you and Splay. As a point of reference, I just picture a rock when I do it."_

I nodded again. "_So, something more simple then," _I thought. I ran through a bunch of other ideas I had, but all of them were too complex I assumed. So I came up with a completely different idea. I imagined a thick barrier of aura protecting my mind.

"Interesting," Jack said, although I noticed he was speaking out loud this time. "That's actually pretty good Lucas; it's good that it's something familiar to you, that'll help you call on it quickly. Now as for you, Ethan…"

"Wait," Ethan interrupted Jack. "What's Lucas doing?" he asked.

Jack nodded. "He's picturing a shield of aura; since he's used to seeing it, he can form a strong image of it fairly quickly."

"Okay, one second," Ethan thought for a second, then he looked at Jack and smiled. "Go ahead."

Jack closed his eyes, and after a moment his brow furrowed in a look of concentration. He stayed that way for several seconds, then he grinned.

"Good," he said. "Very good in fact; that's your house I presume? It's a good, strong image; although you want to be careful to close and shutter those windows, otherwise…"

"Oh no, it's all right, Splay burned it down a few weeks ago. When he first attacked us," Ethan said, frowning slightly. "It was small but comfortable for the two of us," his frown deepened.

Jack smiled sympathetically. "I'm sorry about that, but that's not what I meant; I was talking about your image of the house. This form of mental defense is all about the image; someone who's trying to read your mind is going to be looking for any holes in your defense, holes in the image. An open window or an unlocked door is a pretty good entry point."

"Okay then," Ethan's face grew a little sadder. "Try this."

Jack concentrated again for a second, then nodded. "That's very good; there are no obvious weak points. It should be more than enough; if you don't mind me asking, what is it?"

"It's the cell that Splay put me in while we were trapped in his base in Kalos," Ethan sighed. "Where one of our friends was murdered right in front of us," He looked me in the eyes. "And where Lucas was genetically mutated and given weird powers, like electricity and illusions."

Jack blinked. "Oookay then; that should be fine then. I guess you two just don't spend that much time around rocks, do you. Anyway; with that done, let's move onto the next phase of our training. We'll do a couple of exercises, then you can sleep as long as you want; how's that for motivation?"

"Great!" I said. "Let's move on." "_Before anything else depressing is brought up," _I thought to myself.

"_I agree,"_ Jack said in my mind. "_But from now on, I expect you to be prepared to defend your mind at any time; in a combat situation you need to be able to maintain your mental defenses at all times."_

I immediately put up that aura wall around my mind back up. "_I guess I need to make this second nature; just like my emotion wall," _then I got an idea. "_What if I just combined it with my emotion wall?" _I started thinking of how to do that.

"_I admit, that would be good," _Jack said. "_But as you can see, I slipped in while you were thinking about it. That brings us to the next phase of our training."_

Jack's face split into an evil grin as he switched to speaking out-loud. "Now I want you both to focus on your chosen image and put up a nice strong barrier. Ready? Okay; now I want you both to count up to one-hundred at the same time."

I started counting, while at the same time attempting to keep the aura shield around my numbers that kept popping up. But it didn't take long before I heard Jack's voice in my head.

"_Good, but not good enough; you lasted longer than I did on my first try though, that's for sure. But as you can see, as soon as you try to concentrate on something else your defences weaken. This next exercise will continue until you can count up the multiples of seven, and keep me out of your head at the same time."_

"Uh," Ethan said. "I didn't go to school for very long, and even then I wasn't very good at math."

"Also, I don't know what the heck a multiple of seven is," I followed after Ethan.

Jack's grin widened. "Then this should be fun to watch."

* * *

><p>The whole next morning I kept on trying to hold my aura wall up; but I couldn't stop thinking, what the heck is a multiple.<p>

Roy eventually asked, "What do you keep thinking about?"

I was snapped out of my thoughts. "Uh, something about math," I replied.

"What's that?" Roy asked.

"Something Humans do; its apparently super boring," I did not want him getting interested in math.

"Oh," was his only response.

"_To answer your question," _Jack's voice came, reminding me once again to keep my guard up, "_A multiple is just another way of expressing multiplication; saying seven times three equals twenty-one, is the same thing as saying that twenty-one is the third multiple of seven. Do you get it now?"_

"_Sure," _I replied.

"_Good; because I don't think I could repeat it."_

I put up my aura wall again, with more force this time. Trying to concentrate on this was making it a little bit harder to get anything done.

We had eaten breakfast, which consisted of oatmeal packets and granola bars, and taken down camp fairly quickly. Ethan had gotten backpacks so we could all carry the gear he'd bought.

He'd given me the heaviest one; I didn't complain though.

Roy tugged on my arm. "When are we going to get there?" he asked.

"In a day or two," I replied.

"I'm tired," Roy complained.

"I think that we're all tired," I had been answering various questions all morning; I don't remember ever nagging Ethan this much when I was younger.

"Tired or not," Jack said, "We have to keep moving; I assume you agree?"

"Of course I do," I said.

"Can you carry me?" Roy asked me.

He wasn't given a pack, so I sighed and put him on my shoulders. It didn't add much weight but it wasn't the most comfortable thing ever.

We kept walking for the rest of the day, stopping only briefly for lunch. Once the sun started to go down past the horizon, we stopped again and set up camp for the night.

I set Roy down and dropped my pack on the ground. "Oh my gosh," I said as I stretched my back. "What have you been eating Roy?" I joked.

Roy laughed and ran off into the bushes chasing some small bug Pokèmon. I helped Ethan set up the tents, then we started a fire and started cooking dinner. It consisted mostly of provisions from town; dried potatoes and beef, made into a stew that was actually pretty tasty.

Jack smiled. "Katana, the Scyther who was with me, would probably have come up with something a lot better than this; but still, this is pretty good."

"We used to do this all the time," Ethan said. "When I was going around Kalos getting gym badges. Then I became the Champion and we suddenly had no time at all with all this publicity stuff people kept trying to get me to go to."

Jack nodded. "I feel your pain; lately, it seems like I get swarmed by reporters every time I set foot outside."

Ethan laughed. "That's my entire life now. I can't go anywhere without being chased by a mob of fans and reporters. Sometimes I wish I wasn't famous; but it has it's perks."

Jack scoffed. "Yeah? I have no such weakness; I always wish I wasn't famous."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

Jack frowned slightly, and he looked up at the night sky. "Well, for one thing I'm a wanderer; I'm still on my journey, so the publicity is a lot more of a hindrance to me I guess. That, and… well to be honest, for the longest time I thought people would see me as a freak of nature if they found out about me; obviously the majority doesn't share my views, but I still see the occasional person who fears me for my powers. I don't want people to be afraid of me; but then again," he laughed humorlessly. "I can't blame them; I mean, I once almost killed a guy for training his Pokèmon too hard."

"Oh," I said. "Well, have you ever heard of the descendants of Aaron?"

Jack shook his head. "I haven't; although the legend of Sir Aaron himself has been passed down through generations of Lucarios, so I am well acquainted with it."

"Well Sir Aaron had one son, and just like him he had strange powers over aura. Even Aaron's Lucario, Leonidas, had children. No one knows who their mothers were, but what we do know is that every single child in that line of descendants had extraordinary powers, and were thought to be the sons and daughters of gods. Of course that would be ridiculous, but everyone who had anything to do with them was somehow famous, whether it be for evil or for good. You could happen to be one of his descendants. They're everywhere; Ethan here just happens to be one."

"And let me guess," Jack said. "You're a descendant of Leonidas?"

"Precisely," I said.

Jack looked up at the sky again. "Well, I don't have any better ideas; I very well might be a descendant of Sir Aaron, although I don't see any way of verifying it one way or another. If it turned out I was though, I think Jason would flip out; Sir Aaron is his hero."

I smiled. "Yeah, well. I guess if you ever met some crazy powerful legendary or something, they might know. Or Korminicon might," I thought for a second. "Did I ever tell you about Kro?"

Jack looked me in the eye. "Honestly, I've had enough dealings with extra-dimensional authors in the past; I don't think I really want to get mixed up with another one."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Really? This sounds interesting."

Jack shrugged. "Unfortunately, he'd probably delete me if I said too much; he's a bit vindictive that way. We had a bit of a squabble a while back… But oh well; that's a story for another time."

"I don't think Authors are that mean; they aren't God or anything," Ethan said.

Jack nodded. "You're right, but this one takes particular pleasure in messing with me," he grinned. "And the feeling is mutual. There was this one time, when..."

Suddenly, Jack paused for a second. His expression went blank for a few seconds, then it went back to normal.

"Sorry," he said. "I must have blacked out there for a second; what were we talking about?"

"Uh, extra dimensional authors," I said. "Are you okay?"

Jack gave me a weird look. "I'm okay, but what are you talking about? Extra-dimensional authors? What's that supposed to mean?"

I got the feeling I shouldn't press on, so I just said, "Nevermind, I kind of float off into my own world sometimes," I was seriously creeped out.

Jack shrugged. "Alright then. Anyway, it's about time we started the next phase of our training; you passed the last phase with flying colors. You probably haven't noticed, but I haven't contacted you mentally for several hours now; that's because you've been unconsciously keeping your defenses up. You've gotten to the point where you don't even have to think about it anymore; as a point of reference, it took me weeks to get to that point. Granted, I was quite a bit younger than you when I began my training."

"What about me teaching you how to access the aura well?" I asked. "Are we going to do that later?"

Jack grinned sheepishly. "Well, actually about that; I was asking as more of a professional courtesy. I was watching you carefully during our match, and I saw how you contacted the aura well; I've been practicing for the better part of the day, and I've gotten fairly good at it if I do say so myself. If you have any tips I'd love to hear them though."

"For one, don't take more than you can hold… it'll kill you," I said flatly. "Second, don't use it excessively; it has a limited supply that it can replenish, but it takes time," I thought for a moment. "I think that's all for now. I still don't know everything about its power."

Jack nodded thoughtfully. "Okay then. Well, like I said; you're ready to start phase two of your training. You've learned how to defend your own mind, now it's time for you to learn how to attack someone else's. Trust me, this is the hard part. First though, do either of you even know how to extend your mind beyond your body?"

"I can," I said. "But I can't communicate directly with someone. We had someone create a link between us where me and Ethan can communicate mentally at a crazy range. But it stopped my ability to talk to others with my mind."

"Alright then," Jack said. "I guess we'll have to do this the hard way; close your eyes, and lower your mental barriers."

I honestly had to pull it down with a little bit of force, but this also pulled down my emotion barrier. I guess I had successfully linked them; I sensed the emotions and surface thoughts of everyone and everything nearby.

"_You'll have to learn to control that," _Jack said mentally. "_Unfortunately, I can't help you there. As for the mental exercise, I'm going to do what my adoptive father did when he first taught me this. Brace yourselves, this might feel a little weird."_

Without any further warning, I suddenly felt something… pulling would probably be the best description; it was pulling at my mind. I had to force myself not to resist, and instead just let it happen. The pulling sensation got steadily stronger until, with a final snap, my mind came loose from my body; like Jack said, it felt really weird.

It was like I was floating; I could still feel my body sitting on the ground, but I couldn't move at all. I could still see out of my body's eyes, but I couldn't look around. I could however sense Ethan's mind, and Jack's, and even Roy's a little.

"_Disconcerting, isn't it," _Jack said. "_There are better ways of doing this, but they're a lot more advanced; for right now, since Ethan's going to be the one actually doing it, this will be more than sufficient."_

"_How do I move?" _I asked.

"_The same way you do anything else when you're having an out-of-body experience; you think about it happening, and it happens."_

all of my instincts told me that this was unnatural and shouldn't be happening, but I just went with it. I thought about standing up; and I stood up. I thought about walking around the fire, and I did so. It was almost the strangest sensation I had ever felt.

I tried to think about talking to Jack but I didn't seem to be able to. I tried again, but with more force and still got the same result.

"_Nice effort," _Jack said, "_But you're going about it the wrong way; when I talk to you, I'm extending my mind out to yours. If you want to talk to me, you have to do the same; instead of trying to move your body this time, think about your mind floating over to mine."_

I did just as he instructed and felt myself float over to where Jack was sitting on the ground. Once I got close, I tried again to communicate with him but I still couldn't.

"_You have the right idea, but you still need to get closer; my mind isn't hovering outside my head, my mind is inside it. If you want to get inside my mind, you have to get inside my head; good luck, your training begins now."_

I cocked an eyebrow, or at least thought I did, and I slowly touched the top of Jack's head with my mind. I recoiled when my mental hand felt a physical resistance; it felt hard, and smooth.

"_That would be my barrier you're feeling," _Jack said. "_This is your training; I've left a small crack in my defenses, and you have to find it. I'll give you a hint; like I said before it's all about the image, so you have to be able to see the image I'm giving you."_

I thought back to when he told us what he used as a barrier; a rock. "_Well, how do you break a rock?" _I thought. "_Maybe I can hit it really hard with a hammer?" _

I imagined a sledgehammer appearing in the hands of my mental state, and I was surprised to see one actually appear; although it was slightly transparent.

I studied Jack for a moment and a small hint of doubt appeared in the back of my mind, but I ignored it and raised my mental hammer. I brought it down with as much force as I could think of. It connected with the top of Jack's head violently. The head of the hammer recoiled and jumped back at me; I mentally let go of the handle and it disappeared.

"_Well that was a bust," _I laughed quietly to myself at my pun.

"_You might want to put your heads together on this one," _Jack said. "_Quite literally; this exercise is all about brains before brawn, you won't get anywhere by just battering away at it. Remember what I said, I left you a crack." _

I looked over at Ethan and touched his mind mentally; when I did, I suddenly saw a huge group of swords floating in the air around Jack.

"_What are you doing?" _I asked Ethan.

"_Trying to find the crack," _He stated simply.

"_Well you're doing a terrible job, that isn't going to work."_

"_Shut up," _Ethan said, clearly frustrated.

I rolled my eyes. "_Look, I have an idea."_

I looked back at Jack. "_He's most definitely going to hear this, isn't he?" _

I got the impression that Ethan had nodded.

"_Well there isn't anything stopping us from trying, is there?" _I said.

So I told Ethan my idea and he seemed to like it, but then again he didn't have any ideas of his own so he couldn't argue. I moved my mind over to Jack's right, Ethan moved to his left.

"_Ready?" _I said.

"_Lets just hope he decides to keep that crack there," _Ethan said.

"_Of course he will," _I said. "_Lets just start."_

I imagined a small wave of water washing over Jack, I was a little less surprised this time when it came from behind me and splashed over him; Ethan was doing the same thing from his side.

I commanded the water to wrap around his mind and find the crack, but the water just kept swirling aimlessly around his head to no avail. If there had been a crack, we would have found it.

"_I am… we, are doing something wrong,' _I said to Ethan.

"_You think?" _He said sarcastically. "_He said something about an image. Did you even bother to find out what it was?" _

"_He told us earlier that the image he uses is a rock," _I said. "_Isn't that what he'd be using then?"_

"_You just assumed that he is using a rock? Are you serious? You need to think this through a little more," _Ethan said. "_Let me handle this." _

Ethan paused for a moment. "_He's using an auranium bunker. Its completely impenetrable, except he left the door unlocked." _

I suddenly felt very stupid. I scanned his mind and saw that that's what he was thinking about, so instead of using brute force I opened the door instead.

"_Good job," _Jack said, with more than a hint of smugness in his voice. "_You finally figured out that you actually had to look; and it only took you about an hour."_

"_It's been a whole hour?" _I said.

"_Yup; time flies when you're beating your head against an auranium wall. Still, once again you actually did pretty well all things considered."_

I reentered my own body and opened my eyes.

Ethan opened his eyes and looked at me with a wide grin. "I thought you would be better at this than me."

"Well I think you should get used to being better, because you're the one that's going to be guarding us mentally," I said.

"Indeed," Jack said out loud as well. "Although you'd better not think of slacking off either; this is just as important for you to learn as it is for him."

"I know that," I crossed my arms. "I intend on becoming better than him at this someday."

Jack grinned knowingly. "Don't beat yourself up just because Ethan figured it out before you; you two think alike, but not identically. As a point of reference, while the two of you have been consistently better at this than I was when I was starting out, I figured out this little exercise in about ten minutes. It came more naturally to me, simply because that was how my mind worked; I looked at things differently than the two of you do, and both of you are bound to look at certain things differently than the other as well."

"Okay, so are we done yet?" Ethan asked.

Jack shook his head. "For tonight, yes we are; but in this exercise I purposely left you a way in, and all you had to do was find it. Pretty straight forward, but any opponent worth his salt isn't going to be leaving the door open; you'll have to either find a sneakier way in, or make one. You were going in the right direction when you were flinging mental constructs at me; the main reason it didn't work was because you had a mistaken idea of what you were up against. The next phase of your training is learning to find a way in when your opponent is actively trying to thwart you. But before we get to that, you should get a little more used to out-of-body experiences in general; especially leaving and entering your body quickly, and moving your body while your mind is elsewhere. There'll be plenty of time for that in the morning though; for now, feel free to get some sleep."

* * *

><p>Splay was moving quickly through the halls of his new base towards the interrogation room; his personal favorite room in the whole building.<p>

The room had its very own hallway too, which made it easier to torture information out of people without anybody asking questions about what was going on inside.

He turned down the hall and walked all the way down and opened the door. There was only one other person in there; Krominicon.

Splay stepped in, closed the door, and locked the three, two inch thick dead-bolts.

"So, where did you hide it?" Splay asked; he had no time for lollygagging, Lucas and Ethan were almost here and he needed to know where Krominicon had hidden the book.

"What are you talking about?" The author asked.

Splay slammed his fist into the table making the disfigured body of the author jump slightly.

"Don't play dumb, I know you hid the book somewhere in sinnoh before we found you," Splay growled. "The gold one; you know, the one I sent my little pet looking for? The same pet that crippled you."

Krominicon grinned. "The same one that I beat, trapped in my dimension, then set my dimension to self destruct?"

Splay was not in a joking mood; he slapped Krominicon across the face. "WHERE DID YOU HIDE THE SCRIPT!" Splay screamed in his face.

Krominicon's grin disappeared. "I put it in good hands."

"Who did you give it to? Tell me now or I'll kill you now."

Krominicon laughed. "You couldn't kill me if you wanted to."

"Want to test that theory?" Splay asked.

Krominicon's grin returned. "I dare you. Come at me with everything you've got. Even this broken down body could tear you to shreds."

Splay stepped back from the table and stretched his hands out to his sides; dark aura then covered them, making the room go dim.

"You will tell me where you hid your Author's Script by the end of this, I guarantee it," Splay said as darkness started covering his eyes and spilling out.

Krominicon grunted as he snapped the chains binding him to his chair, and another loud sickening pop echoed from his body as he stood; but if it pained him, he didn't let it show on his face.

He picked the table up with one hand and threw it across the room, and then got into a battle stance.

His eyes started glowing bright white as he began summoning his powers.

"I don't have the right to end you now, that's for Ethan and Lucas, but I can sure as heck make it a lot easier for them to beat you," Krominicon said.

Splay scowled at him. "Once I get the Script, nothing will be able to stop me. I will become the author of this world, and I will once again rule over an empire of destruction. But this time I will have a limitless amount of energy, and the power of a god at my fingertips."

"You'll never get that powerful; you can think so, but the Script has other plans. I could recite a few words from it if you like, I have the whole thing memorized," Krominicon said as Leonidas materialized next to him.

Krominicon looked over in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Arceus sent me to inform you that Lucas, Ethan, and Jack are nearly here," Leonidas said. "You don't need to engage Splay."

Understanding suddenly lit up on Splay's face. "You gave it to Arceus," he said. "You seriously think that he's going to be able to stop me?" Splay laughed with giddiness.

He dispersed his dark aura,

"I guess I have some business to attend to," Splay said as he turned around and unlocked the door. "Hope you have a good time watching Arceus fall, again."

he exited the room and locked the door. A grunt ran up to him and handed him an electric clipboard with a progress report on it.

He examined the screen for a second before handing it back to the grunt. "Tell the engineers to hurry up on the nuclear reactor, and to get that dang doomsday machine over here from Kalos."

The grunt nodded and hurried off.

Splay continued onto the vehicle bay and ordered one of the pilots to ready a Delta Interceptor for a trip to Mt. Coronet.

he waited for a moment before he walked over to his chosen ship, a sleek navy blue craft with a nuclear powered jet engine; the wings were at the very top but angled down. Splay had no idea how this worked, mostly because he'd stolen it from another dimension with the technology Team Alpha had left behind. Too bad Palkia had to get in the way.

Splay grinned to himself as he hopped in aircraft. "_Arceus is sure going to be glad to see me," _he thought sarcastically.

The Delta Interceptor took off vertically at first, but when the bay doors had been opened he slammed the direction lever forward, breaking the sound barrier before he even left the building.

It took him a matter of minutes to reach Mt. Coronet; he flew to the top and landed his craft in Spear Pillar.

He hopped out and grabbed his gateway machine from the storage compartment. He positioned it in the middle of the structure and flipped a switch on the control panel. It started up the small aura generator, a replacement for the much more dangerous nuclear engines; but much harder to manufacture, as it took the lives of many Lucarios to create this single one.

He pushed a button on the control panel and two antennas came out of the top of the machine. A fine line of aura spanned the space in between the two ends, He turned a lever, widening the thin line into a large circle tall enough for him to easily walk through. He pushed another button, and the portal was set down on the ground behind the gateway machine.

He walked over and stepped through, covering his eyes for a moment before they adjusted to the brightness.

he opened his eyes fully and saw an enormous set of doors; he grinned. "_I finally made it, the Hall of Origin." _

He used his Dark Aura and opened the door, not even lifting his arms. He stepped into the room, the meeting place of the legend council.

Almost all the legendaries were there, all of them expecting his entrance. His sadistic grin widened.

"Oh I can't tell you how wonderful it is you see you all again," his voice echoed through the massive chamber.

"You aren't welcome here Splay," Arceus boomed from his throne in the very back of the room.

"Oh, but you have something I need in order to see out my goals," Splay said with a pouty face.

Arceus didn't think he was funny. "Leave now Splay, and never come back."

Splay grew serious. "Give me the Author's Script, and I'll let you live long enough to see your precious Earth crumble into chaos and destruction."

Arceus laughed. "You obviously got the wrong message when Leonidas showed up."

"What are you talking about?" Splay said.

"The Script isn't here Splay," Dialga said from directly to the right of Arceus; the seat to his left was empty, just as it should be.

"Well then, would you do the honors and tell me where it is, oh lord Dialga? Or shall I kill you too, just like I killed your brother when he got in my way," Splay said, his grin returning.

"You'll never be able to get it., Dialga said defiantly. "It's with Lucas."

Splay's jaw dropped. "Say that one more time, I don't think I heard you."

Arceus spoke up this time. "It's secretly been put in one of the packs that Ethan, Jack, and Lucas have. But if you confront them now, they'll easily beat you."

Splay set his jaw. "You are going to pay for this," he said through clenched teeth. "I don't think you deserve the honor of letting me let you live."

Splay unleashed his Dark Aura and sent tendrils of darkness flying towards Arceus, but a bright flash stopped his arms of darkness; Splay hissed and covered his eyes.

When he pulled back, he saw that Krominicon was standing there wearing a suit of elegant armour. It was made up of blue, black, and yellow, matching the same pattern as a lucario. He carried a sword of pure light, The Bane of Darkness. His shield was just a simple circle, but colored the same blue as his armour.

Splay's eyes went wide. "Where did you get that?"

Krominicon shrugged. "You left me and Leonidas in the same room together when you left. You should have known that we can combine our powers; a bit like fuse evolution, but kind of reversed."

Splay grinned. "You still stand no chance against me,"

Krominicon was attempting to keep a straight face, but he couldn't hold it for very long; he busted up laughing.

Splay frowned and watched as Krominicon rolled around on the ground in fits of laughter. He finally managed to contain himself, and he stood back up.

"You crack me up sometimes you know that?" Krominicon said as he wiped tears away from his eyes.

"What's so funny?" Splay asked.

"You seriously think I can't stand up against you? I practically created you," Krominicon was still grinning. "Me and Arceus here created this planet. I helped him come up with ideas about different beings of immense power, which today are known as legendaries." Krominicon frowned. "But then you killed the first one and I was forced to find an heir to replace him. I created Darkrai with the intention that I could somehow use dark powers for good, but it obviously backfired and Darkrai went awol. I tried to contain him but he created you in the process and it all went downhill from there. Arceus was so mad at me he banished me to another dimension. Do you know how lonely it was there? I sat in utter despair for two thousand years."

Splay was slowly trying to edge towards the exit.

"Now before you leave," Arceus said, "You should know what will happen if you try to go and get the script from Lucas." Splay stopped moving.

"You will not win, as we've stated before, but not in the way you're thinking of. You'll be completely erased from existence by Jack Storm. You kidnapping his friends practically sentenced you to death if you ever came across him again."

Splay scoffed. "That puny human? He couldn't even catch me when I was right in front of him, and even in his attempt he used all of his energy. What does that say to you?"

"That he is much more powerful than you anticipated," Arceus declared.

Splay scowled again. "I'll be off; hopefully, the next time we meet I'll have the script and you'll be at my mercy." And with that, Splay engulfed the entire room in darkness. Krominicon slashed his sword and sent a wave of light which dispersed the darkness; but splay was gone.

Splay was already through the portal and was shutting it down. He stored it back in its compartment, jumped into the Delta Interceptor, and took off. He flipped on the stealth mode and turned the ship invisible. He followed the path that Lucas, Ethan, and Jack would follow to get to the base. He flew lower closer to the trees and turned on his scanner to try and find them. He saw four little dots on his radar, and quickly turned around and headed back to base.

"_They're too close, I'm not ready yet."_


	17. Chapter 16: The Storm Approaches

sorry i got this chapter out a little late, i went on vacation. anyway, my school starts on tuesday, which is tommorrow. so i might not have very much time anymore to work on this. but then again i might get more time. you never know. i hope you enjoy this, it leads up to something exciting so don't be expecting insane amounts of action... yet.

well, good reading, readers.

* * *

><p>Chapter 16: The Storm Approaches<p>

"Rise and shine, sleepyheads," Jack said; at least I assumed it was Jack, I hadn't opened my eyes yet.

I heard Ethan groan loudly from next to me, I sighed and sat up. Ethan still hadn't opened his eyes either, and instead of getting up he buried himself deeper in his sleeping bag.

"Five more minutes," Ethan mumbled.

I rolled my eyes, unzipped the door, and stepped out of the tent; stretching while I did so. Jack already had a fire started, and was boiling some water for breakfast. I certainly hoped he was going to add something to it first.

I knelt down and began shuffling through my bag, looking for the utensils, when I found something I didn't expect to find.

Out of the bag, I lifted an extremely heavy golden book. In black letters across the front, it said 'The Author's Script'. The covers looked like they were made of actual solid gold; the pages on the inside however were just regular paper. It was at least three inches thick, probably the biggest book I've ever held, and most definitely the heaviest.

I walked over to the the fire and showed it to Jack.

"Does this look familiar to you?" I asked him.

Jack looked at it blankly for a second, then he snapped his fingers. "Wait a second, yes it does! Before he upgraded to a tablet, my author friend had one of these; I almost forgot… Wait, hold on a minute…"

Jack suddenly gritted his teeth in anger. "Oh, he's going to get an earful next time I see him; wiping my memory like that, I'm gonna…" He took a deep breath and calmed down, then turned back towards me. "This is, like it says, an Author's Script; basically, it's a complete record of everything that happens in this world, and everything that's _going _to happen. I don't know why you have one, but it would probably be best if you didn't read it; if you want to retain your sanity, that is."

I looked down at the book with a different sense of fear and held it slightly away from me.

"Should we take it with us? I'm pretty sure Splay would want this," I said.

Jack folded his arms and thought for a minute before replying. "Like I said, I don't know why you have it. What I do know, is that it's no accident that you do; someone wants you to have it, and it's not Splay. I find that comforting," He grinned. "And besides; if we have this, Splay might just come to us and save us the trip."

"Well, Splay's not an idiot; and plus if he did come to us, we'd still have to go the the old alpha base to get our friends," I said.

Jack scratched his head. "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you; I think Splay is somehow blocking me from teleporting us straight to the base, which is why we aren't there already. But if we take him out, I should be able to get us there in seconds."

I looked at him blankly and said. "Uh, okay then. Anyway, I highly doubt Splay is going to come to us. He's the kind of guy who will do anything to win, especially if it means waiting a few days just so he can have the advantage. He will stop at nothing until me and Ethan are dead, or we kill him first."

"I think I prefer the second option," Jack deadpanned.

"I'd have to agree," I laughed.

Just then, Roy stepped out of our tent rubbing his eyes.

"You guys are talking too loud," he mumbled.

"Oh, uh sorry. is Ethan getting up yet?" I asked.

"No, he's still asleep." Roy said before walking over and sitting on one of the logs surrounding the fire.

I rolled my eyes and walked over to the tent. I shook the top and shouted at Ethan to get up, but I got no response. I shook it again, with the same results.

I huffed, unzipped the door, and grabbed Ethan's sleeping bag. I pulled it a few feet away and dumped Ethan out in the dirt.

"What the heck!" he shouted; he was only in his underwear. He stood up and stomped back into the tent.

I rolled my eyes again and walked back over to the fire and sat on a log next to Roy.

"It used to be I would be the one forced out of bed all the time, but I guess living out in the woods changes you," I said.

Jack nodded. "Yeah, I can see how that would be."

I sighed. "Well, this isn't the first time we've been out sleeping in the woods. But it has been a long time. We got our tent stolen one time and we had to sleep in the dirt."

Jack folded his arms in mock indignation. "And what's so bad about sleeping on the ground?"

"Nothing, it just sucks when it's raining at the same time with no shelter in sight."

"Point taken," Jack said.

Just then, Ethan stepped out of the tent wearing a pair of blue jeans and a black jacket that he'd bought. He came over and sat down heavily on one of the logs across the fire from me. He kept on grumbling about being dumped out of his sleeping bag and precious sleep or something like that.

"Hey, Lucas," Jack said. "You should probably show Ethan what you found; it might wake him up. The operative word being 'might'…"

I picked up the book from the ground where I had set it it down to go and wake up Ethan, and walked around the fire to give it to him. When I set it down in his arms, he almost dropped it.

He looked at it curiously and was about to open it when I said, "Don't!"

He looked up at me with one eyebrow raised. "Why not?"

"Unless you're fine with going insane, just don't," I said.

Ethan looked at the book again, then he walked over to me, put it in my lap, and walked back to where he was before and sat back down.

"Well, are you going to tell me what it is? I've already held it, I would like to know why it would make me go insane," Ethan said.

"Well for one thing, It's a short trip in the first place," Jack said with a straight face.

Ethan cocked an eyebrow. "Okay then, well what's in it? Is there even anything written in it?"

Jack sighed. "Well unless I'm wrong, this is a genuine Author's Script; like I told Lucas here, it's a complete record of everything that's ever happened in this world, as well as everything that's going to happen in the future. My guess is that Splay wants to get his hands on it to gain the powers of an Author."

"So, like Kro? He wants to live in his own dimension?" Ethan asked, confused.

Jack shrugged. "I don't know, but I think the whole 'Private dimension' thing is just for this Kro guy; my Author friend just hops from world to world, but he doesn't have his own dimension. At least, I don't think he does…"

"You should ask him sometime," I said. "But maybe not at the same time as when you give him an earful for erasing your memory."

"You had your memory erased?" Ethan asked.

"Temporarily," Jack said. "I guess he didn't want me telling you about the time…" Jack looked up at the sky and scowled. "Okay, okay; I'm not saying anything. Anyway, I can remember everything now; I think."

"Well, I sure hope Kro isn't willing to erase our memory, I seriously don't like the idea of that," I said.

Jack shrugged. "If Kro is like you say he is, then you have nothing to worry about; like I said, my author friend and I have never been on particularly good terms. We're too similar."

"Okay, so how about that breakfast," Ethan asked.

After we ate and packed up camp we headed out with Jack in the lead. While we walked, Ethan and I practiced moving our bodies while our minds were elsewhere; we also practiced leaving and reentering our bodies until we could both do it at a moment's notice.

We kept on walking and practicing for a good little while before we were all exhausted, so we just stopped our practice there and kept walking.

About an hour after that, I sensed an unusual aura signature. I told everyone to stop. I closed my eyes, lowered my barriers, and pinpointed the signature's location. It was approaching from the trees, and fast.

I dropped my bag and got into a fighting stance while opening my eyes. A few moments later, to my surprise Acero burst out of the under brush wielding his aura sword.

He was charging at me and to my surprise he was angry.

"LUCAS!" He shouted. "I'LL HAVE YOUR HIDE!"

"Can I take this one?" Jack asked

I shook my head. "He's not with Ares. He's supposed to be a good guy."

"My point exactly," Jack replied, before disappearing.

A second later, Jack reappeared in front of Acero and held out his hand.

"Sit down," Jack commanded, before grabbing Acero in a Psychic hand. "I think you should probably hear Lucas out before you try to skin him."

Acero struggled against the psychic hold as I walked over to him.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He stopped struggling and looked me in the eyes.

"After you left," he said, panting. "Ares escaped his prison with the help of his cultist gang; when he did, he stormed the castle and killed most of the elder council, and all of my bounty hunters. He's holding the rest of the elders hostage somewhere, and he wants to rule over Alazin in return for their lives. I tried to find them and rescue them, but I was almost killed in the attempt. So I decided to find you and take you back to see if you could help," he paused for a second. "I followed your scent for almost two weeks just to find that you had crossed the ocean. I then secretly boarded a ship, hoping it would bring me to the same region you had gone to. Luckily I had chosen correctly, and soon I was on your scent again."

"So why did you flip out?" I asked.

"You wouldn't understand," he said, looking away.

"At this point, I think I would understand a lot of things," I said.

He glared at me. "Splay came back as well, and you weren't there to stop him so he completely leveled Alazin without so much as hesitation. I barely made it out alive in that situation. He killed almost every single living Pokèmon in Alazin; including my family."

"What? Why would he go back there?" I asked.

"How should I know that?" Acero said; he looked at me for a second before continuing. "You haven't seen Ares around have you, I'd like to have a word with him."

I laughed nervously and suddenly found the trees interesting.

Jack groaned. "I knew something like this would happen."

I looked back at Acero. "I sort of, accidentally... killed him."

Acero looked at me blankly. "You did what?" he said softly.

I could sense his emotions, he was furious. I didn't respond.

"Why on Earth, DID YOU KILL HIM?!" he screamed in my face. "You don't have the right to go around dealing justice to whomever you see fit! And how did you 'accidentally' kill him?"

I looked at him for a second, desperately hoping Jack doesn't decide to suddenly let him go. "I was in my fused form and I hit him in the head harder than I intended."

"Oh, well then it's all right," Acero said.

"Really?"

"NO, YOU IDIOT!"

"I'm starting to like this guy," Jack said with a straight face.

I turned around and glared at him, then I turned back to Acero and said, "Well I can't really go back to Alazin at the moment, we are kind of preoccupied with saving the world and such."

Acero rolled his eyes. "Great, then I'll come with you until you sort this out; I'll follow you around until you come back to Alazin and fix the situation you started."

I frowned. "Is there even anyone still alive?"

"Yes, there is a small group of refugees, but that is only about thirty Pokèmon."

"Crud," I muttered under my breath.

"I think it would be best," Jack said, "If we defeat Splay all the quicker then; after all, when we do then the Alazin survivors will be that much safer."

I looked at him. "You wouldn't be coming would you?" I asked him. "It would get in the way of your journey, wouldn't it?"

Jack looked me in the eye. "I'd set aside a lot more than a simple Trainer's journey if it means helping people; and besides, from what I've gathered about this Alazin place I'm interested to see it. Even if it's only the ruins of it."

I shrugged. "Well then I guess we'll be spending a lot more time together than we intended."

I gestured to Acero, "I think you can let him go now,"I glanced at him. "If he doesn't try to rip my head off."

Acero shrugged. "I might not, but the chances are pretty high right now."

I glanced at Jack. "If he attacks me, grab him." I backed away from Acero just for extra measure.

Jack shrugged, then grinned impishly. "I have to admit, I can't promise anything."

With that, he relaxed his mental grip on Acero.

I immediately started sprinting off, as Acero charged me almost the instant he touched the ground.

"I HATE YOU!" I shouted as I ran through the trees.

"Consider it the next phase of your training," Jack said. "See if you can strike a truce with an angry Lucario."

"THAT'S NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE!" I shouted back.

Jack's grin widened and he let out a low chuckle. "I know; from personal experience."

I groaned and kept on running.

* * *

><p>We had been walking for a good two hours, and I still had a limp from Acero and our little chase. Jack had eventually caught him again, at which point Acero had agreed not to cause me unimaginable pain.<p>

Acero had taken some of the load and had been quiet ever since we left off again.

"How close are we?" I asked Jack.

"We should be within spitting distance of the base by nightfall," he replied.

I sighed. "That's good enough for me," I looked at the sky; the sun was just barely beginning to set, it was a little past noon. I sighed again. "Looks like we have a little while then."

The rest of our walk had gone uneventfully, although the tension in the group had begun to build up; we could all feel Splay's presence. It was powerful enough that it drove off wild Pokèmon; eventually the forest around us was completely silent except for our own foot steps.

The sun had just touched the horizon when we saw a group of large hills in the distance; we kept walking until we got to the base of one, at which point Jack went ahead to scout out the area. He only took a minute before returning, saying that the coast was clear; the rest of us then followed him up the hill.

When we reached the top, I got my first look at the base; it wasn't hard to spot, the area around it had been blackened by fire. Otherwise though, it was very well hidden; I had to look for a few seconds before I spotted the door. It was dug into the side of one of the hills, and it was painted with splotches of Earthy colors which helped camouflage it.

No one came out to meet us, and the door was wide open.

I looked at everyone in turn. "Well guys, I guess this is it. The final battle that is going to decide the fate of the world, is about to happen," I paused for a second. "No pressure, right?"

Jack raised an eyebrow. "I'd say that's a lot of pressure actually; I was hoping that we'd get a little further in your training, but I suppose what you know will have to be enough. Just so you know though, I think we should probably go in with at least some sort of battle plan."

"I guess, I'm not all to good with plans though," I said.

* * *

><p>Splay was in the main control room looking at the big screen; it showed Lucas and his little group of people, and apparently they'd picked someone else up.<p>

A grunt rushed into the room. "Sir, they're here."

Splay didn't respond, he just waved the grunt out and he left.

_"It all ends here Lucas; you brought the script directly to me, now nothing will get in my way. Well, after I defeat you of course," _A sadistic grin crossed his face. _"I have my entire plan formulated and it's all falling into place. Nothing you can do will stop me, no matter what the script says."_

* * *

><p>Now you need to tell me how me and Jack storm did. i forgot to mention this at the beginning and i was too lazy to fix it. remember, tell me how i did or else i won't get any better. i always have great ideas, i don't suffer from writers block often, but i need to know what i need to do better. TELL ME!<p>

anyway, see you next time.


	18. Chapter 17: The Final Battle

So, finally after two weeks of waiting, i finally bring you the next chapter... a day late. but who cares about the details anyway, its here and its epic. all i have to say is that i loved working on this and there are some cool surprises.

also, i would like to say that i did this with Jack Storm 448, again. if you don't know who Jack is, then go and check him out and read his story. but i doubt that anyone doesn't.

Please leave a review. i am way better than when i started, but there is always more room for improvement. i hope you like this as much as i do, enjoy!

* * *

><p>Chapter 17: The Final Battle<p>

We were all standing in front of the wide open door of the old alpha base.

"So," I said. "Let's go over the plan one more time."

"Alright," Jack replied. "First, I go and make a ruckus in front of the base to draw out Splay and as many grunts as possible; then you use your illusionary abilities to sneak into the base along with Acero. You find the hostages and get them out under your illusions as well; if anything goes wrong, split up. One of you rescues the hostages, the other deals with the problem and then meets back up with the other one. Once the hostages are safe, then you can come back and help me finish off Splay; I promise to leave a little bit of him for you."

I thought for a second. "I have a couple of concerns. First, do you really think that you can handle Splay and his entire army? I mean, you haven't actually gone head to head with Splay; not for real anyway. Second, my illusions aren't as powerful as you think. I haven't had a ton of time to practice, so I might not be able to cloak everyone."

"For your first objection," Jack said, letting his fake cocky attitude fall away, "I don't actually have to 'handle' Splay; and I don't have any delusions about being able to beat him alone. All I have to do is keep him and his grunts occupied, and keep their attention off of you; which leads into your second objection. Hopefully you won't have to cloak everyone perfectly, because there won't be anyone around to notice you. And if someone does, take care of them before they can raise the alarm. If you can, try disabling them with your mind; it'll be good practice."

I nodded. "Let's get this over with."

I made me, Ethan, and Acero invisible and headed for the doors, sensing that they were doing the same.

Jack walked confidently up to the door, and charged up an Aura Sphere.

"Alright Splay," he called out. "I'm here to get my friends back, so come on out; are you a Blaziken, or a Torchic?"

A voice cracked over a hidden speaker; it was Splay, and he was laughing.

"For starters, words don't mean anything to me; they are mere pleasantries that are passed in between you silly humans. Second, I didn't wait forever just to find you here shouting at my door; I know that Lucas is with you."

Jack shrugged. "I don't see how it makes any difference whether he's here or not, I can kick your backside all by myself; last time we met, you realized that yourself. And just for the record, I don't hold much stock in talking either."

With that, Jack charged up the Aura Sphere in his hand until it was half the size of himself; then he flung it into the open doorway. Two full seconds passed, and then a massive explosion rang out from inside the base; followed by a blast of compressed gasses from the doorway. Jack grinned; the hallway was clear, it was time for us to move in.

We sprinted for the flaming door, and jumped through the fire to find a damaged and blackened hallway that went straight forward into complete darkness.

We kept running, the dark didn't stop me considering I had exceptional eyesight. I felt Ethan grab my shoulder so he wouldn't fall behind.

We eventually entered a large room lined with computer desks, and a large podium in the middle with a seat and its own set of computers; there was no one in sight, and I couldn't sense a single soul in the building.

"Splay must be stopping me from sensing where everyone is," I thought.

"Lucas," Ethan said. "Fuse us, so we're prepared, then I can defend both of our minds right now."

I nodded, but then realized that he couldn't see me; so I just fused us. With the same flash as always, I was suddenly seven feet tall. I felt Ethan cover our minds with a strong barrier. I looked behind me, and saw that Jack hadn't followed us.

I looked around the room and noticed a door in the far corner, which was labeled 'cells'. I assumed that meant the prisoner cells, but I could always be wrong.

We headed in that direction and found that the door was locked, so I simply punched it, sending it flying through the next hallway.

We continued down the hall that was labeled cells and found two different hallways that split off. We took the first one and found and bolted door at the end. I didn't think it was a good idea to knock that one down; I had already made enough noise already, but nobody seemed to be coming and I wasn't about to test my luck.

We turned around and headed down the second hallway. Once again we found another door, but this one wasn't bolted shut or locked so I just pushed it open.

In it was two rows of caged rooms along either side of the hallway. It went for about a hundred feet then ended in a concrete wall.

I turned and looked in the first one; it was empty. I continued to walk down the hall and towards the back; the only ones actually in use were the last four, and they had our friends.

Jack's team occupied two cells all by themselves, except for Jason; he apparently got his own. Korrina, Serena, and Lucario shared the last one. I looked into the cells and saw that everyone was asleep.

"Korrina," I whispered, but she didn't respond. "Korrina," I tried again; this time she rolled over and looked up groggily, then her eyes got wide.

"Lucas?" she said.

I shushed her. "Not too loud. I am going to get you guys out of here and meet up with Jack."

She nodded and began waking up Serena. I turned and went over to Jason's cell and woke him up too. Eventually I had everyone awake, and quiet.

"Do you know how to open the doors?" I asked Korrina.

"They have electric locks, you'll need some kind of keycard to open it if you want to do it silently," she replied.

I shook my head. "We don't really have time for that. maybe I can short out the lock."

I grabbed the little black box on the door and surged my generator. Electricity arced off my arm and wrapped around the lock. A moment later, smoke started coming off of it and I ripped the weakened metal easily.

I did this to all the locks, and told everyone to follow me and Acero.

I tried to cloak everyone at the same time, but it ate up a ton of my aura and I had to just stop because I eventually started pulling from the aura well.

We made it into the large command room and stopped about halfway through when the lights turned on. Spark grunts began flooding in through every door, all of them carrying assault rifles, and we were quickly surrounded.

"Well," I said. "I am not totally surprised by this. But I am surprised that you guys think you can stop me."

None of them responded.

"Let me take care of them," Acero said. "This shouldn't be too hard."

I shrugged. "Help yourself."

Acero pulled his Aura Sword from off his belt and charged it. He didn't even hesitate, the moment he had his sword out, he was dispatching grunts left and right. Every hit he made either knocked someone out or crippled them; he never made any fatal blows and never killed any of them.

Soon Acero was the center of attention for guns and knifes; he had put up an aura shield around himself so the bullets merely bounced off him.

I began leading everyone else toward the exit before Splay decided to make his appearance. Fortunately everyone was so occupied with Acero that we managed to slip out unnoticed.

We went into the hallway that led to outside and booked it. I of course had to slow down for everyone else but we made it to the destroyed entrance without incident.

When we exited, I suddenly realized why Splay hadn't showed up.

There was a sizeable explosion as Jack's fist connected with Splay's. The shockwave knocked everyone but me off their feet.

I turned back and looked at Korrina. "Take everyone and head over that hill, you'll find Roy and he can lead you in the right direction away from here," I looked at Serena. "Try to contact the interpol and get them over here if you can," I paused for a second, I was forgetting something.

And then it hit me.

"Where's Klang?" I asked.

Serena pointed at Splay as he dashed towards Jack for another attack; he was wielding a large silver sword that flew through the air as he swung it at Jack.

I groaned. "Just get out of here, we got this handled."

Korrina took everyone and started up the hill. I turned and face the fight that was going on. Jack was thirty feet in the air, launching Aura Spheres down at Splay.

"SPLAY!" I shouted.

He turned and looked at me with that same sadistic grin.

"We are going to end this now, once and for all," I said. "After today, you will be nothing more than a nightmare."

Splay laughed. "I doubt it." Then he turned his attention back to Jack and reached up a hand and shot Dark Aura up to grab him.

Jack teleported away before Splay's Dark Aura even got close; he reappeared next to me, looking decidedly fatigued.

"Is everyone safe?" he asked, breathing heavily.

"Yes; I sent them to meet up with Roy, and he'll take them in the direction of civilization. I also asked Serena to contact Interpol and get them over here if we need backup," I grunted. "But I highly doubt that they will do much."

I looked up to see Splay flying full speed toward us, holding his sword out in front of him.

I dived to the side and rolled, just barely dodging the attack. I stood up and followed him as he landed and faced me.

We charged each other; I knew my top priority right now was to get Klang away from Splay as soon as possible.

Splay held the sword behind him, engulfed his other fist in Dark Aura, and pulled it back to punch me.

"Jack, better get him while he's distracted," I thought.

"Good idea," Jack replied. "Except I'm pretty much at my limit here; I couldn't have held him off much longer if you hadn't shown up. His Dark Aura really is something else; I need to recharge for a minute."

"Okay, give me a second; let me slow him down real quick," I said back.

I charged my limbs with aura and put on a burst of speed, just before Splay brought his fist down to hit me. I dived under his arm to his left side, reached behind him, and grabbed the blade of the sword. I put extra padding around my hands with aura, and wrapped more around the sword to give me a better grip. I used my speed and momentum to keep going and rip the sword free from Splays grasp.

I kept going for a few feet then spun around, grabbed the handle of the sword, and charged at Splay's back; I lifted the sword above my head and let out a battle cry and swung the sword down on his back.

Ihe impact jumped me into the air a little bit and sent splay down hard enough to make a small crater. I landed next to him and sprinted over to Jack.

"Ready?" I asked.

"If you're thinking what I think you're thinking," Jack said, "I just might be."

I grabbed his shoulder and started up my internal generator and blasted millions of volts into Jack. I let go after a few moments, and Jack gave a sigh of satisfaction.

"That felt good," Jack said, cracking his neck. "My aura stores are still kinda low, but every muscle in my body feels super-charged; it should be more than enough to finish this."

"Okay, let's get this over with," I turned and faced Splay as he slowly stood.

He was laughing, he didn't have a single scratch.

"I underestimated you Lucas. But your friend here on the other hand," his grin widened, "He's nothing when he's alone. He needs you to hold his hand."

I nudged Jack. "Did you hear that? He said you need me to hold your hand." I paused for a moment to let that boil. "What are you going to do about it?"

Jack shrugged and grinned. "Not that he doesn't have a point, but…"

Suddenly, the sky above darkened; Splay and I both looked up in shock, to see thick, black storm clouds gathering above us.

"I've been working on this one for a while," Jack continued. "I've been waiting for someone to try it out on. THUNDER!"

Without any further warning, a blast of blinding light and searing heat struck from the clouds; hitting the ground right beside Splay, it blasted a crater of melted earth into the ground.

Splay glanced at the ground next to him clearly unimpressed.

"You missed," he said. "I was seriously expecting to actually be hurt for the first time ever, and you missed. How disappointing."

Jack shrugged. "I admit, I have a little work to do in the aim departement; but you're assuming I only had one shot."

Splay cocked an eyebrow and extended his arms. "Hit me with your best shot."

Jack grinned. "I'll give you three. One…"

Jack teleported right in front of Splay.

"Two…"

He charged up an electricity-filled punch.

"And Three."

With that, he lifted his fist into the air; a split second later, another bolt of lightning came down. It hit Jack's fist dead on, and he sucked up the energy like a sponge. Then, almost faster than my eyes could follow, Jack punched Splay in the face; pouring every last scrap of energy he had into the hit. The blast seared another slag-filled hole into the ground, but I could barely see it past the spots in my eyes.

Splay had been smashed to the ground in a crumpled heap. Jack backed away to see if he would get back up.

Splay slowly pulled himself out of the crater. He looked up at Jack with an unpredictable rage. The left side of his face had been blackened and burned, and his eye was either melted or swollen shut; either way, he now had a huge blind spot.

"You actually managed to injure me," he said softly. "Now I will end you and your friends."

He stood up and stretched his arms outward. Dark Aura began circling him, lifting him into the air. The very night around us got darker as the Dark Aura expanded and covered more ground.

"This could be bad," Jack said. "That was everything I had, and it just made him mad; have you got anything?"

I began frantically thinking. "You need to recharge, and you need more aura." I stopped when Splay suddenly appeared out of thin air right in front of Jack.

"Are you afraid of death, Jack?" he said as he grabbed Jack's neck and lifted him into the air.

"Honestly," Jack gasped, struggling to breath, "Not really; to die is just to see my Father a little earlier than I planned. If you kill me, you'll only be giving me ultimate joy. That said, it'd be too embarrassing to die at the hands of a pompous jerk like you."

With that, Jack teleported away again; but when he reappeared, he wasn't looking so good. His throat was red where Splay had all but crushed it, and his face was as pale a sheet of paper; he sank to one knee, unable to stand up.

Splay was no longer smiling. The Dark Aura that was still surrounding him got thicker. Strands of it started shooting out towards Jack.

I reacted quickly and covered Jack in a dome of aura. The arms of Dark Aura bounced off and started circling around looking for a way in.

I turned to Splay. "He's not who you want Splay; you've been waiting for me, not Jack."

Splay looked at me. "No, but I do want him dead now. But I guess I can just kill you now and save him for later."

He lifted a hand towards me and the Dark Aura around Jack surged toward me. I surrounded myself in an aura shield and made it skin tight so I could move around easily. The arms hit me with so much force I was flung off of my feet.

I tried to spin in the air and land on my feet, but instead landed on my ankle funny and twisted it. I grunted in pain as I tried to stay standing.

Splay didn't hesitate, he kept on hitting me with attacks; making it impossible for me to make my own, keeping me totally on the defensive.

I kept blocking hits with my sword, but I wasn't fast enough and I kept getting knocked over; forcing me to stand up again on my bad ankle.

I was hit by a particularly thick arm and knocked over, and hit my head on a rock. My shield stopped most of the force, but I still felt it.

Almost instantly the arms of Dark Aura started attacking relentlessly. I was curled up in a ball, making my shield thicker and repairing it every time an arm cracked or pierced it; this was draining my aura like crazy.

"Where's Leonidas when you need him," I thought.

"Why would you need me?" Leonidas responded in my head.

"What do you think? I am having my butt handed to me by a one thousand year old demon." I shouted mentally.

Suddenly, Splay was flung backwards; he flew a couple meters before landing back on the ground. I looked over at jack to see him panting heavily, one hand outstretched. His attack had distracted Splay momentarily, but it was nowhere near as strong as Jack's psychic attacks usually were; and now Splay had remembered he was there.

Splay glanced at me trying to stand up, then back at Jack. "I think I'll kill you now," then he stretched his hands and shot two enormous bolts of Dark Aura at Jack; they were so fast, I knew Jack couldn't dodge them in his condition.

"NO!" I shouted,

I tried to put a shield back around him but I was too slow. They hit him with a huge explosion that made dust billow everywhere.

I ran as fast as I could with a hurt ankle into the cloud of dust, following Jack's weak aura signature.

I closed my eyes and used my aura vision and found him lying in a huge crater, unconscious. He had tons of bruises and scratches; his blue robes had long red streaks across his chest. He had been cut by the blast. His arm didn't look too good either, there was a bone protruding grotesquely out of it.

I was a little sick to the stomach and I looked away. I funneled some aura from the aura well to try and stabilize him, but it wasn't working. He could be internally bleeding, or have a collapsed lung. I just didn't know how to identify these things.

"He's not going to last very long," I looked up to see Splay standing over us. "But then again, neither are you."

Blades of dark aura appeared on all sides of us, ready to impale us at a moment's notice.

"It's all over," I thought. "I wasn't strong enough to stop him, even with Jack's help."

"This is goodbye Lucas, Jack. Hope you enjoy seeing your God," Splay said.

He lifted his hands up and snapped his fingers.

There was an extremely bright flash of light, and I heard Splay scream in pain; then an explosion sounded and the dust cleared.

I was standing now, and Ethan was standing next to me.

Everything was so bright; I could see Splay a few meters off rubbing his eyes and surrounding himself in darkness that kept disappearing under this new light.

I looked down at myself and was surprised at what met my eyes. I was no longer seven feet tall, I was the normal height for mega evolution; about four foot three. But I wasn't blue and black, I was white and gold. My torso was a pure gold, everywhere there was supposed to be blue was white, everything else was a light gray.

I touched my chest where my spike should have been, but instead there was a round amber stone that was surrounded with metal that wrapped around my chest and neck.

Splay opened his eyes and looked at me with genuine fear; the first, and probably only, time he's ever been afraid.

"Y-your Arceus's heir?" he stammered. "How is this possible, I would have known if this had happened."

Splay screamed a battle cry. "I"LL END YOU HERE AND NOW!"

I frowned and lifted my hands and put up an aura wall. Splay ran right into it. I lowered the wall and flicked my wrist, and commanded my aura to launch him in the air.

Splay shouted in surprise as he was suddenly thousands of feet in the air.

I commanded my aura to put me right next to him; he just spun around helplessly in the air. I still had my sword, but it was different this time; it was coated in pure light, and it had changed shape. Now it had a simple handle and hilt, but the blade was about half a foot wide and curved upwards into a sharp tip. An oval shape had been cut out of the flat side of the blade, but it didn't undermine the integrity of the metal.

I stopped Splay from spinning and raised my blade up to his throat.

"This ends here Splay," I said. "You will now pay for all the crimes you have committed, with your life."

I was just about to thrust the blade into this neck when a force stopped me, and someone said, "What gives you the right to kill him?"

I spun around and saw nobody.

"What do you mean? He's killed more living things than the black plague," I said.

"Yes, that is true; and justice will be served. but not by you," the voice said.

"Who are you," I demanded.

"You'll see very soon, but first you need to gather your friends and keep Splay in your custody."

I frowned and turned back to Splay. He still had the fear in his eyes and I wanted so badly to just end him now. But someone more powerful than me is stopping this.

"Fine," I said.

I used my aura to put my sword on my back, flicked my wrist again, and lowered us to the ground. I held Splay to the earth flat on his chest, and walked over to where Ethan was trying to get Jack to stop bleeding out.

I knelt down next to Jack and waved my hand over his body; immediately mending any wounds my hand passed over.

Jack gasped and shot up into a sitting position.

"Okay," he asked, gasping for breath. "What just happened? I was all ready for my heart-wrenching death scene."

I laughed. "Well, you were about to die; Splay had us and was about to kill us, when there was this flash of light that separated me and Ethan and turned me into this. Then I beat up Splay."

Jack processed this information with an emotionless expression, then he looked up at me.

"So, what happened to the Script?" he said.

"Well, Splay never got a hold of it, that much I can say."

Jack nodded. "Okay, next question; what happened to Splay?"

"I tried to kill him, but someone stopped me. I couldn't figure out who it was because he wouldn't show himself. He told me to get my friends together and I would find out."

"That leads perfectly into my next question," Jack said. "Where are our friends?"

"Roy stayed behind to lead everyone to safety," I frowned. "Acero is still inside the base."

I turned around and saw Acero walking out of the entrance.

"Nevermind," I said.

"Did I miss anything?" Acero asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

"Well, we won," Ethan said.

Acero shrugged. "I knew you would. I just need to know who helped, cause I know you didn't do that on your own," he said, pointing to me.

"Let's go and get everyone else and we'll find out," I said.

I turned to Jack and held my hand out to help him up. "You ready to go and meet up with our friends?"

Jack nodded. "I'm just a little disappointed; it doesn't look like you needed what I taught you about mental combat after all."

"We have yet to see what other dirty tricks Splay has up his sleeve," Ethan said, glancing at Splay lying facedown in the dirt.

"Well, we should get going, before the interpol or someone gets here," I said. "I seriously don't want to answer any questions from the press."

With that I helped Jack up, made Splay float along behind us, and we started heading over the hill towards the other group. When we got to the top we could see them in the distance waiting for us.

They all started waving at us frantically and started running toward the hill. Ethan sprinted down and hugged Korrina.

"We were all so worried about you guys," Korrina said. "How did you win?" she asked looking at the demon floating along behind us.

So Ethan continued to retell the story from a few moments ago.

"So, what happened to Lucas?" Serena asked.

"We have no idea," Ethan said. "But apparently we should be finding out soon."

I waited for a second to see if something would happen; when nothing did, I said, "Maybe not, I don't know. We should start heading back to Pastoria. I could probably get us there really fast."

"Not faster than me," Jack said, a hint of a challenge in his voice.

"Well, I can't teleport; at least I don't think so," I said.

Jack shrugged. "And I don't think I could teleport all the way to Pastoria in one shot; that wouldn't be much of a race anyway."

I shrugged. "What other way would you do it. I can make us float there; I'm not sure exactly how fast, but I'm guessing could go really fast."

"I've done something like that before," Jack said, "But I know I can get from here to Pastoria in a few minutes at top speed; if I don't burn out. What I want to know is, can you go that fast yourself? You've got this awesome new form, so why not put it through its paces?"

"Okay, am I going to take everyone? Or how do you want to split it up?" I asked.

"Well, I can cut it down quite a bit if you give me a second," Jack said, before disappearing.

Jack reappeared a few seconds later, holding a metal box with two cloth straps attached to the back; and a bunch of electronic-looking stuff on the front.

"What is that?" Ethan asked.

"It's basically a big, complicated, multi-Pokémon Pokéball," Jack said. "I can store my team in it, then we only have to carry… two people each, plus Roy who isn't that heavy."

"And everyone that isn't human can go in it?" Lucario asked.

Jack scratched his head. "Yeah, I guess so; that'd cut down the weight even more."

"So, I guess we should get started then? how does it work?" I asked.

"Like this," Jack said, pushing a few buttons on the box.

Immediately, Jack's team began to glow red; as if they were being recalled into a Pokéball. They disappeared, and the red light went into a spherical hole in the side of the box.

Ethan cocked an eyebrow. "Did they go inside that?" he asked pointing at the box.

"Yep," Jack said. "Although to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how to get it to capture new Pokémon; I've always used Pokéballs as an intermediate step."

"Huh, so Acero and Roy can't go in it?" Ethan asked.

Jack shook his head. "No, of course not; wait a second, I'll be right back."

Jack disappeared again; this time, he reappeared with a small mountain of supplies. Including the duffel bags we'd gotten from the Interpol. He reached into one the bags, obviously one of his own, and pulled out a blue belt with six Pokéballs hanging from it.

"Here we are," he said. "We can just use these; for Acero and Roy, at least. I don't know about Lucario."

"Lucario has a Pokéball," Korrina said; she reached into her pocket and pulled it out. She pushed the button and made it bigger.

"Perfect," Jack said, then he turned to Roy and Acero. "Do either of you mind?"

Acero shook his head, and Roy followed his example.

Jack tossed two of his Pokéballs at Acero and Roy, and they were enveloped in red light and drawn inside the Pokéballs; after shaking a few times both Pokéballs blinked, signifying a successful capture.

"Alright then," Jack said, picking up the Pokéballs. "Korrina, could I have Lucario's Pokéball as well?"

She nodded and handed Jack his Pokéball. Jack then set the metal box on the ground and pressed Lucario's Pokéball up against the spherical indent in the side; he then pushed a button on the front, and removed the Pokéball.

"And that's that," he said, handing the Pokéball back to Korrina.

I glanced at Serena, sensing a strange emotion emanating from her. I didn't say anything at first, as Jack put Acero and Roy in the metal back-pack as well.

"Serena," I finally said. "Where are your pokemon?"

She immediately stiffened. "Uh, at my parents' house."

She was lying; even Jack could see that much, and he turned to look at her.

"Serena," I said more firmly. "Where are you pokemon?"

She sighed. "I don't want to talk about it."

I rolled my eyes. "You do realize that I can read your mind."

She huffed. "Fine; when I got a letter from the international-police asking for help, I was very confused, but I assumed that it was them just trying to find you two. After a week of basic training they sent me out on a mission to invade a Spark base in which Splay was supposedly holding you in a cell. We successfully stormed the base but only found vague traces of you two. So, we took the hostages and left. When we got back to base one of the pilots said she was told by you two that you managed to escape. I thought this was strange, so I looked into it. During my search I got an email, from Splay."

"Splay?" I exclaimed, glancing over at the demon, who was still immobilized. "Why would he email you?"

"I'm getting to that," Serena said. "He said he knew where I was and that he would kill my family if I didn't do what he said. So naturally, I listened. We met in the middle of nowhere. I brought a strike team with me. When we landed, I was the only one left alive. Splay told me to hand over my Pokémon and do everything he says. He told me to spy on Interpol for him, and if things went his way, I could have my pokemon back and my family would be safe. I came up with a simple but believable story that Splay had left me alive to deliver a message to Interpol to stay out of Team Sparks way."

Ethan laughed. "Yeah, because they're going to listen to that."

Serena glared at him and continued. "After a few days of sending Splay info, you popped up in Lumiose I was immediately sent out to protect you. We met up in Coumarine, then traveled to Pastoria. When we were kidnapped, everyone found out that I was traiter. I was so guilty, I thought that this was all my fault; Splay knew exactly where to get us and how to do it. So I tried to fix things," Serena sighed. "So When I got in the way, he started killing off my Pokémon. I immediately stopped after the first one, but Splay didn't know restraint."

Tears started welling up in Serena's eyes. "I didn't know what to do," she croaked. Then she broke down and started crying.

Ethan walked over and hugged her; she hugged him back, and I heard Ethan gasp a little bit as she squeezed him.

Korrina walked over and rubbed her shoulder.

I sighed. "Is our family alright?"

Serena nodded into Ethan's shoulder.

"Good," I thought. "We should get going."

Ethan pulled himself away and said, "We should get going."

Serena nodded again and wiped her face off.

I looked at Jack and asked. "So, how are we going to do this? Is it going to be a race?"

Jack grinned. "That was the general idea. From here to Pastoria; whoever gets there last has to pay for dinner, and there will be a significant dinner to be had."

I grinned. "Okay then, but you can't teleport."

Jack nodded. "Like I said, it wouldn't be much of a race if I could; it looks like Ethan, Korrina, and Serena are the only people we need to carry. I'll tell you what, since I'm feeling generous, I'll carry Korrina and Serena and you can just carry Ethan. And Him..."

Jack motioned to Splay, who was still floating around.

"Okay then," I grabbed Ethan in a large sphere of aura and lifted him off the ground. I used my aura and leveled myself with him.

"Come on," I thought. "I can be more creative than that."

I used my aura to make a roller coaster car and strapped Ethan into the front seat, then I strapped Splay down in the back.

"That's better."

I looked at Jack, who was standing beside me with Korrina and Serena floating in tow.

"Shall we?" I said.

Jack grinned impishly. "We shall."

Before I could react, a bolt of lightning arced down from the heavens and struck Jack dead on; he sucked up the electricity like a battery and, when the spots cleared from my eyes, I could see sparks arcing all across his body.

"Now I'm ready," Jack said. "Try and keep up."

I watched him shoot off with Serena and Korrina, leaving a crackling trail of electricity in his wake; and a small shockwave.

I grinned and shot after him. "Game on."


	19. Chapter 18: Short-Lived Shelter

well here it is. sorry i took so flipping long to get it out. i was soooooooo busy it was unbelievable. i haven't had a free weekend in like two months, i'm surprised i've been able to get as much done as i have. well, hope you enjoy this, there's a little excitement at the end, then cliff hanger. again, i did this with Jack storm, go and check out his storys, he is an exceptional writer. he's come out with the book 2 to his rising storm series and it is already exceptional. so go and check it out, i command you!

well, enjoy.

* * *

><p>I stopped just outside Pastoria City, and set Ethan and Splay down on the ground so I could catch my breath, although I made sure to keep Splay restrained; I'd flown as fast as I could, and I needed a quick break. I had passed Jack a while ago, although we were both going too fast to really trade comments; apparently, I could fly faster than he could run. No mean feat.<p>

"Come on," I said to Ethan, scooping him up with aura. "We'd better get going before…"

Without warning, a bolt of blue light shot past me; followed a second later by a sonic boom. The blue streak slowed down as it entered Pastoria, so as to avoid breaking anybody's windows; as it decelerated it solidified into the grinning figure of Jack, with Korrina and Serena floating behind him suspended in a cocoon of aura.

"I WIN," Jack shouted to me.

I walked over to where he was standing. "Whatever, I was going way faster than you were; I would have beat you, if I'd actually entered the city."

"Ah," Jack said with a grin, "But if you had then you'd probably have broken every pane of glass within a hundred meters; you were forced to stop outside the city, while I decelerated gradually into it."

I shrugged and was about to say something before Ethan said, "You can put me down, I can walk on my own, you know."

I rolled my eyes and dropped him on the ground.

"Ow," he said. "You didn't need to drop me."

"Whatever you say Ethan." I said. "Anyway, since this the first time I've ever gone that fast, I didn't really know what I was doing. Also I don't really know how to get out of this form, it's nothing like Fuse Evolution."

Jack nodded thoughtfully. "Well, I suggest you look into learning how to control that form; although I still want to know more about the person you saw when you were fighting Splay."

"See, that's the thing. I didn't see him. But he felt extremely powerful. Unlike anything I've ever felt before," I said. "But apparently we're supposed to meet him soon or something."

"I hope so," Jack replied. "But as for right now, I have two questions; one, what are we going to do with him?"

Jack motioned towards Splay.

"I honestly wish I could just cut his head off and dump him in the ocean," I said. "But I've been thinking, what if the host is still alive. Maybe we could somehow extract Splay from the body."

Jack scratched his head. "Now, there's an interesting concept; I recall thinking something along those lines a while ago. Then Splay showed up and kidnapped everyone…"

"Yeah, I was intending on killing him on the spot; but now that that's not an option…" I shrugged. "Where should we put him? We can't really take him with us to dinner, 'cause that would be really weird."

"No arguments there," Jack agreed. "I could always try sticking him in the Pack, my box here, and let Thomas keep him under control."

I laughed. "I don't know if Solomon could handle Splay. Even if they were in some Pokéball box thingy."

"The thing is," Jack said, "It's actually a complete virtual universe; and Thomas can interface with it directly, giving him pretty much complete control over it. Inside the pack, Splay wouldn't be able to do anything unless Thomas lets him; because Thomas is in control of the systems that would normally allow Splay to move around and interact with the world inside the Pack. It's pretty much the perfect prison; and Thomas is the perfect guard."

I shrugged. "I don't have any other ideas, so I guess this is the best we've got right now."

Jack scratched his head. "Okay then, now we just have to figure out how we're going to get Splay into the Pack in the first place."

"Anybody got a master ball?" Ethan asked.

No one responded.

"Well then, that limits our options doesn't it?"

Jack furrowed his brow. "I hate to be the one to suggest this… on the other hand, I regret nothing; to make Pokémon easier to catch, trainers usually just beat up the Pokémon in question until it can no longer fight back against the Pokéball."

I glanced back at Splay who was still floating behind us. "We shouldn't really do something like that in public," I glanced around, people were giving us strange looks as they walked by. "I don't know if we should stay in public much longer anyway."

"Probably not," Jack agreed. "How's about this; we drop everyone else off at the Pokémon Center, then you, me, and Thomas go a ways outside of Pastoria and see if my idea works."

"Hey!" Ethan said, "What about me? Shouldn't I get to come?"

I looked at him blankly. "What good would it do? I think you would be better off staying behind and watch everyone else in case something happens."

He glared at me. "Since when do you make all of the decisions? Last time I checked, I'm the trainer and you're the Pokemon."

"So? You're better off here than with us, beating up a demon. You won't even be able to do anything but watch," I said.

"Who cares? I'm a little tired of you thinking you're in charge. For a while I was okay with it because I had no idea what the heck was going on, but now that I do know, i think that I should be giving the orders and not you," Ethan said, crossing his arms.

I rolled my eyes. "Seriously, are we honestly fighting about this?"

Ethan rubbed his eyes. "Whatever, we'll talk about it later."

"Uh, guys?" Jack interrupted. "Another question occurred to me just now; did you ever find out what happened to your Author friend, Kro?"

I looked at him blankly. "Uh, he's probably fine."

"Yes, I am quite fine," came a voice from behind.

I spun around to see Kro walking in our direction.

"Because I was wondering who he was," Jack continued, pointing at Kro.

"Well, this is the spitting image of Ethan, Krominicon. He's kind of a big deal," I said.

"Yes," Kro said, now standing next to us. "I am a very big deal."

"Thanks for saying that out loud," I said rolling my eyes.

I turned and faced him. "So, what happened to you? I honestly thought that you were dead."

"Well, I trapped that thing Splay sent after me in my dimension; then I erased my dimension," Kro sighed. "No easy feat."

"Okay then," I said. "Anyway, we should get going before someone starts taking pictures of me," I looked over to see a small crowd of people gathering nearby and pointing at me.

"Let me help with that," Jack said.

Suddenly, everything went dark; I caught a glimpse of a pitch black void filled with countless stars, then there was a sudden rush of color. Once everything had solidified, we were all standing inside what I assumed was the Pastoria City Pokémon Center.

I wobbled a little bit. "Okay, don't ever do that again," I said, and I rubbed my eyes.

Jack shrugged. "Fine; although you have to admit, it's pretty useful."

"Yeah, if you don't black out after it," I said.

Jack gave me a weird look. "Don't tell me you got seasick."

"Oh yeah, I was sick the whole ride here," I moaned. "I don't look forward to the ride back."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Well, you can take a few minutes to catch your breath; I just realized that we left all our supplies back at Splay's old base, so I'm going to go and get them real quick. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Maybe you should let everyone out of your pack thing before you go," Ethan said.

"I was going to," Jack replied, shrugging the Pack off his back.

He pressed a button on the front, and a beam of red light shot out of the indentation in the side; it solidified into the forms of Jack's entire team, Acero, Lucario, and Roy.

"So," Jack said to the newly materialised Pokémon. "Just to clarify, are you all up to speed on what's going on?"

"Yes," Thomas the Porygon2 answered. "The microphone and camera worked perfectly; we saw and heard everything."

Jack nodded. "Good; I was wondering about that new feature. Anyway, I'm off; make yourselves at home."

With that, Jack disappeared into nothingness.

"Well," Acero said. "That was quite an experience."

Lucario laughed. "No kidding."

"Wait," I asked. "What happened?"

"We were inside a computer," Acero said. "It was very odd what kind of things you could do in there."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Okay then."

"Who's the new guy?" Lucario asked.

I looked behind us, Kro was still there.

"This is Krominicon," I said. "He's an Author."

Lucario shrugged. "Well, that's quite an interesting name. But why is he here?"

"I don't actually know the answer to that," I said.

"Come on guys," Jack's Lucario said to his team. "Let's see if our room is still rented out."

"Right," said a Scyther, sarcastically. "It's only been three days, I'm sure it's still open."

"Still," replied an Absol, "You have to admit that, if it is, it'll be better than sleeping in a cell. And besides, as I recall there's a lounge area upstairs anyway; we can just crash there."

The Scyther shrugged. "Fine, you had me at 'sleeping in a cell'; let's go."

"Are we actually gonna get to sleep in real beds tonight Auntie Lucy?" asked a young Kirlia, who was riding on the Absol's back.

"Yes Wendy," the Absol, Lucy, replied.

"Wait," I said. "Could I get you guys' names before you go?"

"My name's Jason," the Lucario said. "I'm Jack's adoptive brother; long story. Anyway, this is Cap the Breloom, Katana the Scyther, Lucy the Absol, Wendy the Kirlia, Aura the Dragonair, Solomon the Kadabra, Ivy the Servine, and Thomas the Porygon2."

"Wow, how did you get so many in your group?" I asked.

"It's a long story," Jason replied.

"Well, we aren't doing anything; we could listen to a long story," I said. "Just shorten it down or something."

"Well," Jason said, "It all started back when I was a pup…"

By the time Jack got back with the supplies, we were all firmly hooked on Jack's story; with the exception of Kro, who looked like he'd heard it before. The rest of Jack's team had gone upstairs and hadn't come back down yet.

"After we'd defeated Roark..." Jason was saying, then Jack apperated with the bags of gear.

"Hey guys," Jack said. "What did I miss."

"Nothing much," Jason said. "Just your life story."

"Are you insinuating something?" Jack asked him, raising one eyebrow.

"Nothing, nothing at all," Jason replied innocently.

Ethan laughed. "I like this guy. Maybe he wouldn't disobey me," Ethan said, glaring at me.

I cocked an eyebrow and looked at him. "Seriously, did you just say what I think you said?"

Ethan stood up from the chair he had sat down in. "Yes, yes I did. Is there a problem, Lucas?"

This was very unusual. "Uh, no," I was picking my way carefully. "Why would there be?"

"Oh, I don't know; maybe because you seem to think you're in charge of everything," Ethan said crossing your arms.

i stood and grabbed Ethan's arm. "Can we talk privately?"

I dragged Ethan into the hallway.

"What is your problem?" i asked.

"You're my problem. I'm still ticked off," Ethan said.

"Great, but could you be mad a little more privately? You're embarrassing us."

"Good, maybe it will teach you to lay off the leadership a little bit."

"You know what? You need to go and get yourself a room and cool off," I said.

"Why? Maybe you're the one that needs to cool off. After all, I'm the leader here."

"You need to stop saying that, okay? You are the trainer, but we're brothers. Or at least as close as brothers can get. You need to respect that and stay in your own boundaries."

"Me? I need to stay in my own boundaries? Coming from the guy who thinks he's in charge of this little operation."

"Stop saying that. You're not in charge, I'm not in charge. We work as a team."

"No, that's not how it works," Ethan said quietly.

Before I could say anything, Ethan stalked down the hallway toward the lobby.

I shook my head. "This is not good," I thought.

I sighed and turned back into the room. When I opened the door everyone was looking at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," Korrina said quickly. "Jason, continue on with your story."

"Okay," Jason said. "After we defeated Roark, we were going to head for the next city; but then, out of nowhere, the Legendary Bird Articuno suddenly attacked the city!"

"Hey, Lucas," Jack said. "Are we going to take care of Splay, or what?"

"Sure," I said. "Let's go, Jason can finish this while we're gone."

"Is Ethan coming too?" Jack asked.

"No, Ethan went to cool off outside, I think," I said.

"Okay," Jack said, although he sounded somewhat concerned. "I'll get Thomas and then we'll go."

Jack disappeared with a rush of displaced air.

"So, whats going on between you two?" Korrina asked me.

"Nothing, just a little argument. We just need some time away from each other," I replied.

Jack popped back into existence with Thomas beside him. "Alright, let's go," he said.

Without any further warning, I was once again plunged into the black, star-filled nothingness; although this time I noticed the ride seemed somewhat less disorientating. When we popped back into existence a mile or two outside of Pastoria, I was only a little dizzy; and that passed quickly.

"Was that better?" Jack asked.

"Yeah. Way better," I said.

"Good. So, how are we going to do this?" Jack asked.

I pulled my sword off my back. "I could knock him out? That would make it quick and easy."

Jack nodded. "Be my guest; that should do the trick nicely."

I walked over to Splay, who seemed to be looking off into space. I stood over him and he lazily glanced at me. I hesitated for a moment before hitting him in the head with the flat side of the blade. He went out cold without resistance.

I hooked my sword into its original position on my back as Jack pulled out a Pokéball; he tossed it at Splay and the demon was engulfed in a beam of red light, just like an ordinary capture. The Pokéball rocked one, twice, three times, then stopped; the Pokéball flashed once, signifying that the capture was successful, and I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding.

"Okay, now all we have to do is put him in the Pack," Jack said. "And that's where you come in Thomas."

"Indeed," said Thomas, making me jump a little; I hadn't noticed him floating right behind me.

Thomas floated over to Jack, and touched his beak to the spherical indentation in the side of the pack; he was engulfed in the same kind of red light that Pokéballs produced, and was sucked into the pack. Jack then pressed Splay's Pokéball to that same indentation and pressed a few buttons; there was a small flash of light, and then Jack removed the ball.

"And we're done," he said. "Thomas can keep Splay in there pretty well indefinitely until we figure out what to do with him."

"Well, now that that's over with we should head back and get dinner," I said to Jack.

"You never said a truer word," Jack said, holding his stomach. "I'm starving."

With that, he teleported us back to the Pokemon center room in the same strange manner; this time I barely felt dizzy at all. Jason was still retelling Jack's story, but now the listeners each had a plate of pizza on their laps.

"And then he punched me in the face," Jason said, rubbing his eye. "And I was like, 'sensitive much?' Seriously! All I did was make a crack about Lucy being his..."

"Yes?" Jack interrupted menacingly.

Jason nearly jumped out of his fur. "Oh, J-Jack; you're back! So, h-how did it go?"

Jack grinned. "It went fairly well, I thought; but personally, I'd like to know two things."

Jack leaned down and stared Jason in the eye.

"And those would be…" Jason said, slightly nervous.

Jack took a deep breath, and pointed to the plate of pizza which Jason was holding. "What is that, and where can I get some?"

"I'd also like some Pizza," I said. "I'm starving."

"Your friends ordered half a dozen boxes of it," Jason said to me, obviously relieved. "There's still plenty left, upstairs in the lounge."

I laughed. "Nice. Where are the plates?" I asked.

Jason shrugged. "With the Pizza, where else? Now then, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted; the next day we challenged the Eterna Gym Leader, Gardenia..."

"Come on," Jack said to me. "Let's go get some of this 'Pizza' stuff."

I looked at him. "Have you never had Pizza before?"

Jack shook his head. "Nope, but I hope it tastes as good as it smells."

I grinned. "You have no idea, follow me."

We took a set of stairs up to a sitting room where the rest of Jack's team were eating Pizza.

"Jack, you're back," said Solomon the Kadabra. "How'd it go?"

Before Jack could respond, everything around me went black. I couldn't see or hear anything, but I wasn't unconscious.

"Hello Lucas," someone said. "I've been waiting a long time to meet you."

"Who's there?" I said.

"Oh, you'll find out soon enough," The voice said darkly. "You know, I'm somewhat surprised you defeated my creation, but I'm glad you made it possible for me to get my powers back. I do hope our meeting goes well; maybe Ethan will agree to my terms. Either way, I only really need one of you; I would just prefer the more powerful one."

The voice suddenly disappeared, and I was left floating in darkness for a moment before the room flashed back into existence and I gasped.

I fell to my knees and clutched my head as a migraine pounded through my skull. I felt someone's hand on my back and I heard Jack yell, "Lucas!"

I looked up startled by his shout, my eyes were wide.

"Ethan's in trouble!" was all I said before I was practically flying through the hallway to the lobby and outside.

"ETHAN!" I screamed both physically and mentally. I located him through our link and pinpointed his location.

I sprinted as fast as I could toward him and reached the edge of town, but I didn't stop. I kept going through the underbrush dodging trees and occasionally blowing one to the side if I couldn't sidestep it in time.

I finally reached a clearing deep in the woods. The moon light illuminated a large boulder in the middle, on which Ethan was sitting with his back to me. I sighed in relief; he didn't seem to be in any sort of pain.

"Oh my gosh Ethan, where the heck have you been?" I said

Ethan glanced back at me. "Oh you know, walking through the woods, meeting strange Pokémon, getting weird gloves," he held up his hands revealing blue, elbow-length gloves, with light blue stones set into the tops and yellow lines wrapping around the stone and up his arms. "Just the usual stuff."

I cocked an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? What strange Pokémon did you meet?"

"I believe now would be the time to introduce myself," a voice said from behind me.

I spun around to see the Pokémon that haunted the dreams of children across the world; quite literally. It's ghostly body was mostly black, but with a red spiked collar-like thing circling its head, long white hair, and piercing cobalt-blue eyes that seemed to stare into my soul. It was the Nightmare Pokémon himself, Darkrai!

I pulled my sword off my back in a flash and had it leveled at him with one arm while an Aura Sphere charged in the other. "You, you're the reason Splay exists."

Darkrai shrugged. "Yeah, he was honestly the dumbest thing I ever did." Darkrai outstretched his hand and my sword jumped out of my hand towards him. In mid flight it turned back into a cube and Darkrai caught it.

"Wha-, how did you do that?" I demanded.

"Did Klang never tell you? Well, I guess he wouldn't have anyways," Darkrai sighed. "If Klang was so loyal to you, why did he agree to help Splay?"

Suddenly, Klang began to shift; morphing into a spider-like creature in Darkrai's hand. Before anyone could react, Klang sharpened one of his legs and stabbed Darkrai through the chest.

Klang jumped out Darkrai's hand and scuttled off towards town.

I looked at Darkrai. "What's going on?"

The hole in Darkrai's chest mended itself. "Splay still has control of Klang. I would have thought you would have figured this out."

I stood there looking at him for a second before I realized exactly where Klang was going.

"Crap," I grabbed Ethan with my aura and sprinted in the direction of the pokemon center.

I caught up to Klang in a matter of seconds and two ideas crossed my mind. "I could end this now and blow Klang into oblivion, or I could sprint ahead and grab Jack's pack and keep it away from Klang. But I can't kill Klang, we've been through too much together, even if it's only been like two weeks."

With my mind made up i sprinted ahead towards the pokemon center. I burst through the front door and into the hallway with the rooms and located everyone in the upstairs sitting room; Jack was the only one missing.

I burst into the room and everyone stood up simultaneously.

"Where did you go? and why is Ethan floating behind you?" Korrina asked.

I dropped Ethan and asked. "Where did Jack go?"

"He went looking for you and Ethan," Katana the Scyther said.

"Where's that metal backpack that can store pokemon that he carries around?" I asked frantically. "I need it now."

"It's in our hotel room," Jason said.

Without further explanation i sprinted down the stairs and barged into their room. I searched frantically throughout the entire room but couldn't find it.

"Looking for this?" Klang said.

I spun around and looked at the window seal. There was Klang, standing in the open window with the pack hanging from one of its leather straps on Klang's metal leg.

"Klang, what are you doing?" I asked.

"Exactly as I am commanded to do. Splay is my one and only master, and you trapped him; I intend on releasing him," Klang's arm started reaching for the buttons.

"Stop, you don't know what you're doing," I half expected Klang to actually stop, but I guess that was too much to hope for because he started pushing commands into the keypad.

Similar decisions as before popped into my minds. "I could launch an aura sphere at Klang and destroy him, or I could try another tactic and try and save Klang. Not that I have any ideas on how to do that."

I didn't even second guess myself when I charged forward and grabbed Klang, throwing both him and me out the window. I wrapped the pack in a protective sphere of aura and separated Klang from it. I set the Sphere to float in the air as I used both arms to grab Klang and point him towards the ground.

We collided with the ground hard and created a small crater.

I stood up and threw Klang in the opposite direction of the pack; in mid flight he transformed into a quadcopter and deployed little guns from the bottom of his chassis and started shooting at me.

"Klang, you need to stop this!" I shouted as I rolled to the side and thought, "Where the heck is Jack when you need him?"

As if to answer my question a small aura sphere flew out of nowhere and hit one of Klang's little engines throwing him into a spiral.

Smoke trailed as Klang descended to the ground, the moment he touched down, he transformed into a little three foot robot with guns for arms. He ran towards me and opened fire.

I put up an aura shield and deflected the bullets. Suddenly Jack burst out of the bushes and sprinted towards Klang. Klang turned and opened fire on Jack without hesitation.

Jack's eyes had sparks coming off of them and I could tell he was charging a powerful blow.

"NO!" I shouted and sprinted in front of Klang and put up a shield on either side of me to deflect both of them.

I feel Jack crash into the shield and grunt as I tired to hold the shield up, Klang isn't doing much damage, considering I can block bullets fairly easily.

"What are you doing Lucas? I had him!" Jack shouted.

"You can't kill him!" I shouted back.

"Are you crazy? He's going to let Splay out! Do you know how many people will die if he's released in a city?"

"I know, but I need to try and save him first, Splay has control over him," I said and put down the shield and grabbed Klang by the arms and pointed them away from me. His feet flailed around for a moment before another set of arms sprouted out of his sides and turned towards me. I yelped and dropped him. the moment he touched the ground the turned into a little car and zoomed off towards the pack that was floating twenty feet above the ground.

I sprinted after him but he'd already turned into a little jet plane with engines and transformed back into his little robot form and latched onto the sphere around the pack. His arm turned into an auranium drill and he started drilling through the shield like it wasn't even there.

I sprinted to directly under it and jumped up to try and grab it, but right before I grabbed it, Klang finished putting in the commands and a stream of darkness pushed me back down to the ground.

The air was knocked out of me as I crashed into the ground and the Dark Aura surrounded me and trapped me.

Splay landed on the ground lightly; his left eye was still shut and a large part of his face was still blackened. Klang transformed into a sword and jumped into Splay's hand.

"That's better," Splay said, twirling Klang in his hand. "Now then, it's time for you all to die."


	20. Chapter 19: All sorts of secrets

okay, so i am kind of sorry for taking almost month to get this out, but school has been hard on me, therefore, i am not that sorry. But anyway, i again did this with Jack storm so i am currently giving him credit for it. (So go and read his stories). Anyway, this has some secrets and stuff. if you have any questions just pm me or leave a review as well.

with that out of the way, enjoy!

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><p>Splay looked at me for a second before looking around; he noticed Jack, who was waiting for Splay to make a move, but Splay merely glanced over him.<p>

Splay frowned. "Darkrai!" he shouted. "Come out and meet your match."

Darkrai appeared a little ways away. "I think that already happened, a long time ago. But I doubt you could beat me now anyways, now that Lucas and Jack here are on my side," Darkrai glanced at me. "Right guys?"

I almost protested but before I could say anything, everyone from the sitting room burst out of the pokemon center all at once.

"Whats going on!" Ethan shouted.

Splay looked at them for a moment before returning his attention to Darkrai. He leveled the sword at him and said, "I will destroy you here and now, then I will kill Lucas and his friends, then I will carry out my plans as before. This world and all it's inhabitants will belong to m-"

He was cut off as he was flung backwards as if he had been hit by a truck; Jack straightened up and blew on his still sparking fist, then he turned back towards us.

"Well Lucas?" he said. "You beat Splay before all by yourself with that new body of yours, we should have no trouble beating him again; we just need to get him out of the city, and that shouldn't be too difficult. So, who's coming?"

Acero stepped forward and brandished Aura Sword. "There is no question that I will be coming."

Ethan walked over and stood next to Acero, so did Jason; Roy stepped up next to them and put his fists on his hips.

I looked at Roy. "_He shouldn't be coming, he'll only get hurt," _I thought. "_But what do I say? Maybe... no, he can't come." _

"Roy," I said, "You need to get out of here and protect everyone else."

He crossed his arms. "No, I want to fight him too," he paused for a second. "He killed my parents."

Splay grunted. "This is touching and all, but i'm not going to wait anymore," and with that he swung his sword at Jack's head.

Jack ducked, narrowly avoiding the blade, and he rolled to the side and faced Splay again.

I was still trapped to the ground by Splay's dark aura, and all I could do was watch for a moment and wait for Splays concentration to be off of me. I tried wrapping my self in aura and pushing out, but his grip was too powerful.

"Don't worry Lucas," Jack said with a grin. "We'll get you out of there soon enough."

I sighed. "Make it fast."

"I will," Jack assured me. "Here's a trick you might recognize."

Without any further warning, a bolt of lightning arced down from the sky and struck Jack; the light was blinding and, knowing that Splay's eyes were trained on him, Jack struck before the light faded. Before anyone could even see what was going on, Jack had sent Splay flying again.

I felt Splays grip loosen just a little bit as his concentration was completely thrown off. I took that chance and pushed outward with my aura with everything I had; his hold on me literally shattered and I sprung to my feet and chased after Splay with two aura-charged fists.

Splay landed on his back and rolled multiple times before he could right himself and stop moving, but by then i was right in front of him and my arm was already pulled back for a punch. I let loose a battle cry and plunged my fist into his face. Splay once again went flying farther out of town.

I was about to start after him, but everything around me flashed and I suddenly felt a rush as energy was drained out of me. I stumbled forward a bit and looked down; I had changed back to my normal form.

"_Crap," _I thought. "_Well this changes the game, now doesn't it." _

I looked behind me and saw Ethan; he nodded and I tried to grab his aura signature, but something was blocking me.

"What th..." I started, but was interrupted.

I almost fell over again as Jack shot past me in Splay's direction. I looked in his direction as his disappeared into the trees. I looked back at Ethan and saw Leonidas instead.

I jumped a little bit. "Whoa! Don't do that."

"Sorry," Leonidas said, "But you, Jack, and everyone else need to come with me. Arceus wants to talk with you."

My eyes got wide. "Excuse me? I don't think I heard you correctly," just then, someone tapped on my shoulder.

I turned around and saw Krominicon standing there. "Just come on; you don't need to wait for Jack, Arceus has got Jack and Splay handled."

I didn't have time to respond before there was another flash of light and Krominicon disappeared and was replaced by an enormous gold door.

I turned around and saw that everyone was there, and I mean everyone; Jack's team, me and Ethan's, as well as Darkrai. Turning around, I saw Jack and Splay a little ways off.

Jack's eyes were as wide as dinner plates, and I heard his voice in my head. "_You're here too, Lucas? Well, I guess you would be; but do you know where we are?"_

I spun around and looked at our surroundings; we were in a huge white hallway that seemed to go on forever, with that same giant door.

"_No Jack, I do not know where we are, I would also like to know that," _I said with a touch of sarcasm.

"_This is the Hall of Origin," _he replied, in a tone of mixed awe and apprehension. "_Home of Arceus, and meeting place of the Legendary Council."_

"_Wow, how very knowledgeable of you," _I said, then I looked at Splay, who was standing a few feet from Jack; he had a look of complete fear on his face. "_I don't think Splay is going to enjoy this." _

"_I'm not sure we are either," _Jack responded. "_One does not simply walk into the Hall of Origin; I speak from personal experience."_

Jack rubbed his head, as if remembering an old injury.

I cocked an eyebrow, but didn't ask any questions.

"Hello friends!" someone shouted.

i turned and saw Leonidas and Krominicon standing in front of the golden doors.

"Welcome to the Hall of Origin!" Leonidas said; and with that, the doors started opening.

Krominicon looked over everyone, his gaze lingering on me a little bit longer than it should have, then finishing with Splay who didn't seem to be set on running. The doors stopped moving and I gazed inside; Leonidas gestured for us to enter. I heard multiple gasps from the group behind me as we filed into the room.

Everyone was gazing at the legendaries around the room but I couldn't take my eyes off of Arceus, sitting in the very middle of the semi circle; I noticed that the seat to his left was empty.

"Hello, and welcome to the Hall of Origin," Arceus said. "Now, shall we get down to business?"

Ethan raised his hand.

Arceus smiled, or would have if he'd had a mouth. "Yes Ethan?"

"What exactly is this 'Business' you speak of?"

"Well, there's Splay, and some of you have some actions you need to answer for," Arceus said, looking at me and Jack.

My heart dropped suddenly. "_Oh gosh, it's because I killed Ares by accident. It was an accident, right?" _I asked myself.

Arceus looked at Splay directly for a moment then at Darkrai. "You two have caused all sorts of trouble, I think it's better if we deal with that first."

Splay and Darkrai walked/floated up to the front of the group and the rest of us stood back.

"Splay, you have made the most problems in the past thousand years, even though I wasn't there for most of it. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Splay stared at Arceus for moment. "I'm sorry I didn't kill you when I had the chance." That was all he said.

Arceus didn't seem offended. "Well then, I guess it's right that we punish you accordingly to your crimes against existence itself. Shall I list them? Or would you rather move on?"

Splay grinned. "Go ahead and tell everyone what I've done, then they'll know that they should fear me." He turned his head and glared at all of us.

Arceus sighed. "You have been convicted of mass murder, vandalism, destruction of entire cities, kidnapping, creating illegal weapons, physical and mental abuse, attempted murder, high treason, parasitic acts, framing, genetic mutation, terrorism," He paused for a moment. "I think that's it."

Splay's grin widened. "Yes, that's all."

"Well as for your punishment, I am still deciding between two things," Arceus looked at Splay for a long moment. "I could either kill you know and just end it, or I could return you to Darkrai and give him your powers."

Splay's smile dropped. "Kill me now," he said. "I will never be in Darkrai's control ever again. Especially since he's good now," he turned and glared at Darkrai.

"Well since you want to die, I don't think it would be much of a punishment; now would it," Arceus said. "Then it's decided, you are now Darkrai's. Oh, and I am removing Klang from your control."

Splay's eyes got wide and he lifted his sword to try and attack, but Klang suddenly flew out of Splay's hand and dropped to the ground in front of me; then he transformed into a cube.

"NO!" Splay shouted; dark strands of his aura started spewing out of him like a fountain and attempted to destroy everything in the room. Arceus started glowing and the Dark Aura disintegrated.

Splay was wrapped in light and lifted into the air. Splay screamed one more time before black smoke started coming out of his mouth. The smoke gathered in a ball just next to the body Splay used to posses.

The smoke floated over to Darkrai in a sphere of light, and Darkrai stuck his hand right into it; the smoke was absorbed into this hand and disappeared.

Darkrai put his arm down; he seemed to radiate darkness for a moment before it too disappeared.

"Well, now that's over with," Arceus said, "We can continue."

"Wait," I said, "What about the host Splay possessed?"

"He'll wake up when you guys return to Pastoria, but for now he's still in a catatonic state," Arceus glanced at the body still floating in the air, his eyes now closed.

"Anyway, let us continue to our next order of business; Jack," Arceus said.

Jack groaned. "Please tell me you're not going to drop another vase on me..."

Arceus coughed. "What? What are you talking about?" he wouldn't make eye contact with Jack.

Jack blinked, then grinned knowingly. "Oh, I see; witnesses."

"Anyway," Arceus continued quickly. "You only have one thing we need to talk about," he paused. "I think you know what I'm talking about, no?"

Jack's eyes hardened, and he studied the floor. "Yeah, I know what you're talking about; Greninja, right?"

Arceus sighed. "Jack, I normally do not interfere with or punish the acts of humans while they live; however, you are far from normal. Like Legendary Pokémon, you are too powerful to be allowed free rein to do as you please without consequence," Arceus paused again. "Jack Storm, you are convicted of murder; and the consequences that follow."

Jack sighed. "I accept any punishment you see fit."

"For an act of murder, I would send you to work for Giratina in the Reverse world for what would be the rest of your life," Arceus said. "However… it was not premeditated murder; it was a crime of passion, done out of blind rage. A rage stoked by Greninja almost killing your brother, Jason the Lucario. As such, I will be lenient," Arceus paused, as if to consider something.

Jack looked up at him. "What is my punishment?"

Arceus sighed again. "In truth, I do not know; I can no more deal with you as I would one of the Legendaries, as I can deal with you as a normal human. I am not sure what I should do with you."

"If I might suggest something, Father," Darkrai said suddenly.

Arceus looked over at the Pitch Black Legendary with a surprised expression. "Yes, go on?"

Darkrai looked at Jack. "The problem here is that you cannot allow him to kill indiscriminately; his power is too great for him to live among normal humans without being held accountable for his action. Correct?"

"Correct…" Arceus said slowly.

"Well then," Darkrai said. "I propose that his memory of this exchange be wiped, properly this time, no more vases, and I will personally watch over him and make sure he doesn't get out of control; not that you really believe he will, do you."

If Arceus had shoulders, I'm sure he would've shrugged them. "Not in so many words, no; I doubt he'd ever let himself do something like that again, but the possibility is simply too much of a threat to ignore completely. I accept your proposal, Darkrai; you may do the honors of wiping his memory."

Darkrai looked up at Arceus with an amused glint in his eyes. "If you insist; fortunately, I actually can wipe memories."

Darkrai waved one claw at Jack, who's eyes suddenly glossed over.

"Of course, it would be best if his team didn't remember our decision either," Darkrai added, turning back to Arceus. "It might cause complications."

Arceus rolled his eyes. "Fine, go ahead."

Darkrai waved in the direction of Jack's team, most of whom were still staring in shock and awe at Arceus.

Jason realized what was about to happen. "Wait, hold…"

Jason was interrupted mid-protest, as his eyes glazed over just like Jack's; the rest of Jack's team followed quickly, until they were all just standing around like zombies. Then suddenly, they all snapped out of it; they blinked, their eyes turned back to normal, and none of them seemed to remember the last five minutes or so.

Jack looked up at Arceus. "I accept any punishment you see fit."

Arceus nodded. "That has been taken care of; but see that this never happens again."

Jack nodded gratefully. "Thank you, I will."

I was looking back and forth between Darkrai and Arceus, completely baffled; then Arceus looked at me.

He stared at me for a long time, as if he was still deciding what to do with me.

He finally looked up and said, "I need to speak with Lucas in private."

Everyone took the hint and started making their way to the exit. Even the Legendaries either popped out of existence or floated out of the doorway.

After the Hall of Origin was empty, Arceus looked back down at me.

He laughed ruefully. "You have caused quite some trouble."

I cocked an eyebrow. "I understand that I've killed more times that Jack has, but it was all to protect people."

"Yes, I know, but three times is still a lot. First that imposter Splay at Splay's Kalos base, then the Lucario in the alleyway in Alazin, then not too long ago the Lucario named Ares."

There was an awkward silence that followed.

"You may have been protecting people, but you could have left Ares alive; he honestly didn't pose any threat to you," Arceus looked me in the eyes. "I may have been lenient on Jack, and you have saved a lot of people, but there are consequences to every decision you make. This one in particular is the worst."

There was another awkward silence.

"I am willing to put aside the other two murders, those two were for a good cause, but Ares is inexcusable."

I sighed and took after Jack's example. "I will accept any punishment you see fit."

Arceus stared at me for another long moment. "I still don't know what to do with you. I can't send you to the reverse world, but your actions can't go unpunished."

"Before we get to that," I said, "I have one question; it's been bothering me since Splay said it. What did he mean when he said your heir?"

Arceus chuckled. "He was mistaken. My heir's form would change, but not as much. Your form that you changed into is called your divine form. There are five of you in the world."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Why haven't I met these other four?"

"They are hidden away in many different parts of the world, and have been for a very long time. You are just a special case."

I rubbed my chin. "So what is this divine for exactly?"

"Well, it all started after the fall of Splay a thousand years ago. After splay fell and the darkness receded into its cave, light returned to the Earth once again, but at an alarming rate. Sir Aaron was training five pokemon specifically to be defenders of light, and when the light of the world returned, much of its power was centered on them for some reason."

"So, I'm like one of their descendants?" I asked. "but I thought I was a descendant of Leonidas?"

"But you are. One of the pokemon Sir Aaron was training was Leonidas's son. You see, these beings could not be replaced by any means, so they were given a special ability by the light; when the end of their life comes, their memories are erased and their lives begin anew. That is why you don't remember your parents, that is why your earliest memories are of that one fateful night in the woods. That night Ethan's father saved you from that Arcanine."

My eyes got wide. "So what you're saying, is that I am literally Leonidas's son? So I'm not a descendant?"

"Yes," Arceus nodded. "You have lived many lives, lives that you will never have recollection of. This is why I can't send you with Giratina, otherwise, you would be stuck in an endless loop of working for him."

I sat down on the hard marble floor and looked at the ground.

"You can now see why I can't decide what to do with you."

I looked up at him. "Did I ever have any kids?"

Arceus stared at me for a moment before answering. "Yes," he said hesitantly, "But they are all long gone. You would only be able to find descendants."

I looked back down. "So what's my punishment going to be?"

Arceus sighed. "There are a number of things I could do, but which one would be fitting for your actions."

There was another long silence, but not an awkward one; it was more tense than anything else.

"How does this sound," Arceus finally said. "You would become my heir."

I looked up with a confused look. "How exactly is that a punishment?"

"If you become my heir, you would live until I died, then you would take my place," he paused to let me think about it. "You would long outlive even Ethan's great grandchildren. I am very young for a Legendary, actually I am currently the youngest."

And then the reality set in. "I would watch Ethan grow old and die, and then his kids, then his grandkids. I would watch the Earth change in the way it always does. But what happens when I die after I take your place? Would my life start over again?"

"That is what I am worried about. You are technically immortal in a strange way," Arceus sighed. "This is the best way to punish you, I can't just kill you or send you to Giratina because you are needed to help protect the world, but I can't just let you off unpunished. Do you accept this punishment?"

I thought it over. "_Maybe it won't be that bad. Maybe something good will come from this. But it's not supposed to be that way, it's a punishment, not a reward. I know that I would outlive Ethan anyway, but I thought maybe I would see him in heaven. But even that wouldn't happen, because I would just forget him and start over. But I can't not accept it, it's the best I am going to get at this point." _

I sighed and stood up. "I accept whatever you see fit."

Arceus's eyes started glowing and I was surrounded by light. For a split second I felt strange, it's hard to explain, but I could sense my body being removed from the effects of age.

The light disappeared and Arceus's eyes were no longer glowing. "Now, you will live until I die, then you will take my place."

"And how long do you suspect that to be?" I asked.

"I honestly don't know," Arceus said. "But if I die of natural causes, then it should be a very, very long time."

Another silence came as I thought over what it would be like to live without Ethan. I shook my head. "_I still have a long ways to go before I should start thinking about that." _

I looked up and asked, "Am I allowed to tell anyone about this?"

Arceus thought for a moment. "You can tell Jack, but that's it. Don't tell Ethan, I'll deal with that when he dies."

"Are we done?" I asked. "I would like to know more about this divine form, and my past, but I'm assuming that Leonidas can tell me more about that."

Arceus nodded. "Yes, Leonidas would know more about that than I do."

I cocked an eyebrow and I was about to ask him about it but the doors to room opened and Kro leaned his head in.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt but I may have done something that you might not approve of," he said a little sheepishly. He stepped into the room all the way and held up the Authors Script. "I think that I removed this world from the effect of the Authors Script."

The gold book looked a little duller than I remember it.

Arceus looked surprised. "I don't know why I wouldn't approve of that, it's probably a good thing in fact. It makes it so anyone can make their own destiny instead of having it written out."

"Oh," Kro said. "okay then. I guess I'll go and put this somewhere." He slipped back out and closed the door.

"Well," Arceus said. "Now anything is possible. You have been fairly punished as I see it, and now you and your friends are free to return back to Pastoria. You will be put back in the exact same position in space and time, so the only thing that will change is your memory and the presence of Splay."

"So right now?" I asked.

"Yes right now."

There was a slight delay, and then everything had a tint of blue and pink then everything went white and I was standing back in Pastoria where I had been a little while before.

Jack suddenly appeared next to me, with a very confused Blaziken holding onto his shoulder.

Jack blinked, slightly confused. "Okay… what just happened?"

I stared at him for a second, trying to collect my thoughts. "Uh, I think we just met Arceus."

Jack nodded. "I remember that part; what I don't remember is how we got back here. If that was some kind of teleportation, it was nothing like the kind I'm used to."

"I think it was from Dialga and someone like Palkia. Maybe Giratina?" I shrugged. "Anyways, I learned a whole lot more about myself than I thought I would. Some of it I think I should share with you privately."

Jack folded his arms, suddenly curious. "Yeah, that's fine. But first I think we should do something about this guy," he nodded towards the Blaziken, who was looking around like he had no idea what was going on; although there was a good reason for that I suppose.

"What's your name?" I asked him.

He looked at me for a second. "You look a lot like Leonidas, did you know that?" He seemed way more focused on his questions than what I just asked him.

"Uh, no, I didn't. But could you please answer the question?" I said a little impatiently.

"What was your question?"

I facepalmed. "I asked what you names was."

"Oh, my name is Splay," He puffed up his chest proudly, then paused. "Where the heck am I?"

I looked at Jack. "Do you wish to answer this question?"

Jack stroked his chin, as if he had some sort of long flowing beard or something. "Well… what year do you last remember?"

Splay thought for a moment. "I think it was around the year one thousand, or something like that. I hit my head hard at some point and that's the last thing I really do remember."

Jack folded his arms. "Well there's no easy way to break this to you, but it's been more than a thousand years since then."

Splay looked down at Jack blankly for a second before asking, "Could you repeat that, I think I heard you wrong."

"This is the Year of our Lord, two thousand and fifteen," Jack said plainly.

Splay's draw dropped. "What happened!? Was I like, in some kind of coma!?"

I sighed. "Something like that."

"Long story short," Jack said, completely straight-faced, "Your body was enslaved by an monstrous demon for a thousand years and used to commit uncountable and unspeakable atrocities; we just got done exorcising it."

Splay stared at him for a minute. "Could you use smaller words."

I groaned. "You were possessed and used to destroy cities and kill people."

"Dangit!" Splay grabbed the sides of his head. "I knew I should've listened to that voice that kept telling me to not to unlock that stupid book."

"That probably would've been a good idea, yeah," Jack said sarcastically.

Splay groaned and sat down on the ground.

I was about to say something, but then I heard a helicopter in the background.

I could see Serena running towards us. When she arrived she was out of breath. "The Inter-pol are on their way from Splay's base. They say they found some crazy stuff there," she paused. "They also found something pretty disturbing too."

Just then the helicopter swooped overhead and headed to a landing spot in the middle of Pastoria. I ran over to where Ethan was standing, and he was giving a strange look.

"I think they found something, but they won't tell me what it is," He said.

I looked at Serena but she just shrugged as inter-pol officers started hopping out of the helicopter.

Then, the most unexpected thing happened.

I was watching people jump out holding tablets and swiping on them and typing in information; then the crowd cleared and there, standing in the middle of it, was Ethan's mom.

* * *

><p>So, how did you like that? you should seriously leave a review. i feel like Jack Storm is the only one who ever does, and he's my beta reader. i hoped you enjoyed this chapter. i will make an attempt to get the next one out next monday, but there are always these little things that keep popping up and getting in the way. Well, i hope you read the next one.<p>

Wait, i also wanted to thank everyone who has read this since the very beginning, i know that the first chapter aren't that great, but i have seen my improvement through the year and i will be writing a sequel. actually i have two planned right now, so hold tight.


	21. Chapter 20: Famous Last Words

Sorry this took so long. School is such a pain the side. This is not very exciting i have to admit, but it does get something out. Please leave a review, that is literally all i ask. i don't ask to get popularity, i ask because i would like to get better. please just leave a review. Please.

* * *

><p>When Ethan's mom suddenly appeared, Ethan, Korrina, and I all stood still and time seemed to freeze.<p>

Their mom stared at all three of us, and we stared back; then I saw tears start welling up in her eyes.

She sprinted forward and practically tackled Ethan, then Korrina came and joined the hug, and I stood by watching as gears in my head started spinning like crazy, trying to come up with some sort of explanation.

I felt someone's hand on my shoulder and I turned to see Leonidas standing there.

"You have a lot of explaining to do." I said quietly. "On more than one topic."

Leonidas smiled and said, "Well, that can be done later, it looks like there's a reunion you need to get to." He gestured to Ethan and Korrina.

I looked over and I saw Their mom looking at me, she waved her hand telling me to come and join the hug.

I sighed and walked over. She let go of Ethan and Korrina and hugged me tightly.

"Thank you," she whispered in my ear. "For taking care of Ethan for me."

I smiled and hugged her back; then for that small moment, all the world's problems dissapeared and I was just glad to see the woman who'd raised me till she disappeared.

We broke our hug and then Ethan and Korrina started barraging her with an infinite amount of questions.

I stepped back and stood next to Leonidas, Then Kro appeared as well; he looked a little panicked.

"Hey," he said, "You know how I had removed the Earth from the effects of the Authors Script? Yeah well, it turned out to be not as good as Arceus thought." He grabbed my arm, "We need to talk in private."

I shrugged his hand off, "Can we do it later? I have other stuff I need to figure out now."

Kro sighed nervously, "This is much more important than you think, we need to talk, and soon."

And with that he popped out of existence.

I was about to start talking to Leonidas, but Looker showed up.

"Can I speak with you?" he asked, "There are some things we found in Splay's base and-" he stopped when he noticed the Blaziken standing near by looking around totally baffled by everything he saw.

"Who is that?" Looker asked.

"That is the host Splay possessed." I replied.

"What's his name?"

I rubbed the back of my head, "His name is Splay."

I saw Looker's arm shift slightly toward his belt. "You do realize he's the only one we can blame for all the destruction he's caused? If the government finds out who he is, then he will be put down on sight."

My eyes got wide, "Okay, first of all, we've already got all this figured out with Arceus. Second, the government doesn't need to know about this. We can change his name and he can just be another one of Ethan's Pokemon or something; but this guy is totally innocent."

Looker rubbed his chin. "Fine, but you need to get that figured out now. Then we need to talk." He turned and walked away.

I walked over to where Splay was standing. "Okay, here's the deal." He looked down at me and seemed to give me his full attention. "You are currently a convicted criminal. Because that Dark Aura possessed your body everyone thinks you're a killer, what you need to do is change your name and we will have a disguise of some sort for you."

Splay looked at me for a moment, "What about Quarrel?"

I cocked an eyebrow, "What?"

"What about Quarrel for my name?"

I just shook my head and said, "Whatever, now your name is Quarrel, that is the name I am going to call you and that is the name everyone else will call you. Do not respond to Splay and if anyone accuses you of being him, deny it."

Quarrel nodded.

"Okay good. We should be heading to Kalos soon, so lay low for now."

Quarrel nodded again.

I turned around and saw Ethan and Korrina guiding their mom towards the pokemon center; probably to talk some more. I decided to give them some time, and take this opportunity to talk to Leonidas.

I walked over to him and switched to Poke-speak. "We need to talk."

"You've already said this." he paused, "What do you need to know?"

"First off, how the heck is Ethan's mom still alive?" I asked. "She, and Their dad, should've died in a car accident when Ethan was four."

Leonidas nodded, "Yes, that was the case, but the accident was staged by Splay. He took Ethan's parents captive. His dad tried to play hero and got himself killed instead."

"So what has Splay been doing with their mom?" I asked.

"Splay thought that he would be able to use Ethan's parents to his advantage and possibly manipulate him. Of course by the time he could have used them, their dad was dead and Ethan was so famous that if he revealed anything about his parents it would not end well for him."

"Hm, well I guess that explains everything about Ethan's mom. What about this divine form?"

Leonidas frowned, "Could we talk about this on the way home?"

I cocked an eyebrow, "Uh, sure. Why can't we talk about it now?"

Leonidas didn't respond for a moment before saying, "Because Arceus wants me to wait for a bit."

I was about to press him for details but Looked stepped back into the conversation.

He held out a smartphone. "Take this and give it to Ethan; we still need to talk about some things, but we're leaving. The yacht that brought you here will be returning you home."

I took the phone from him and he walked away.

I just held the phone in my hand and looked around as the inter-pol agents started walking back into the helicopter. I saw Serena walking over to us, her emotions said that her hope was just crushed.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Nothing." She was lying.

"You need to stop lying to me, it's never going to work." I said folding my arms.

Serena sighed and said, "I was hoping that Splay hadn't killed all my Pokemon, that maybe he had left one alone. But that was just a fantasy." Her voice cracked slightly at the end and she didn't keep on talking.

I glanced behind and noticed an inter-pol agent walking over holding a Pokeball.

"Looker told me to give this to you." He said to Serena and he put the Pokeball in her hand.

He walked off without saying anything else.

I could sense hope radiating off of her. She just looked at the Pokeball and looked back up at me, she looked like she would burst into tears.

I cocked an eyebrow. I nudged Quarrel, "We should go now."

Serena looked thankful as Quarrel and I walked off to leave her alone. I looked around for Jack; he was standing a little ways off talking with his team. He seemed to have completely lost interest in everything else except for whatever he and his team were discussing.

I thought for a moment. "_Maybe now would be the best time to talk to Jack in private; at least while we're all waiting to leave." _

I walked over, followed by Quarrel, and tapped Jack on the shoulder. He turned around and I said, "Can I talk with you in private now?"

Jack gave me an annoyed look, but then he seemed to reconsider something and his expression became more calm. "Yeah, sure."

I nodded and led him away from the group. I looked back and saw Quarrel following us.

I sighed and said, "I know this is all new to you and stuff, but me and Jack need to talk alone; in private."

Quarrel nodded and walked in the other direction.

I turned back to Jack. "There are some things that Arceus told me to tell you, but not to tell anyone else.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "I see; what kind of 'things?'"

I hesitated. "Like things about where I came from..." I paused as I thought about where to start. "I have lived multiple different lives. Lives that I don't remember."

Jack gave me a strange look.

I sighed and rubbed my hands together nervously. "_Why am I so nervous?"_

"That divine form that I changed into is actually something that I figured out a long time ago," I felt like I was starting this wrong. "How about this, I will explain from the beginning."

"So, after Splay disappeared, and the darkness left, the earth was flooded in light, so much so that it was centered on five Pokemon. Those Pokémon developed special abilities where they could change their form and multiply their power, power even greater than Fuse Evolution. One of those Pokémon was Leonidas's son..." I paused again. "That was me."

Jack blinked. "Okay, didn't see that one coming; although, for the record, I knew you must have been descended from someone powerful. But didn't Leonidas live thousands of years ag… Oh," an expression of sudden revelation crossed Jack's face. "That's what you meant by multiple lives; you've lived for thousands of years but you can't remember all of it, can you."

I nodded. "Each time I reach the end of my life, instead of dying, my memory is wiped and I am put somewhere different and my new life starts again." I sighed, "And I figured out that I've had children in my past lives, but Arceus said I wouldn't be able to find any of them, because I've outlived them all." I rubbed my eyes. "_Now that I think about it, that is super weird." _

Jack's brow furrowed. "Who exactly does all this memory wiping and relocating, and why?"

"Well, apparently we were like defenders of Earth or something and we couldn't be replaced because the light had chosen us."

Jack nodded. "Okay, but that doesn't really answer my question; why did your memory have to be wiped every time, and who's responsibility was it?"

I thought for a moment. "I never figured that out."

"That's kinda what I figured," Jack said. "Seems to me though, those would be some interesting questions to ask Arceus if you ever see him again; I'm actually surprised you didn't ask him the first time around."

I rubbed the back of my head. "Yeah it never crossed my mind, but I will most definitely be seeing Arceus again, many times probably. And that brings me into the next thing I wanted to say. You know how Arceus wanted everyone to leave to discuss my punishment?"

"Yeah," Jack folded his arms. "I was kinda curious about that, but I just figured it was probably something better kept private."

"Yeah, not entirely." I thought about how to approach this. "So, as my punishment, Arceus made me his heir." I looked at Jack to see how he would respond.

"Yeah," Jack said, nodding. "Okay, I can see tha…" He froze and looked me in the eyes; then his jaw dropped. "He… HE WHAT!?"

"Before you start asking questions, you need to know what it means. I will be around pretty much forever." I thought for moment. "I am going to see Ethan get old, then his kids, then his grandkids. This ruins having a family of my own because I would watch them get old and die as well. I'll watch the world change and everything it brings. If I stay in the public the government will start asking questions of why I'm still alive. I won't die until after I take Arceus' place, and he's the youngest of the current Legendaries. I will be alive for thousands of years, or at least this life will. My life might still loop back even after I'm Arceus and I've died. I have been trapped on this Earth in a never ending loop of life after life." I rubbed my eyes. "_I need to go and meditate on this or something." _

"I see," Jack said solemnly. "I guess when you put it like that, immortality is a pretty cruel punishment after all."

I sighed. "I have a small request, I think."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

"How long do you think you'll live for?"

Jack closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Well, provided nothing kills me… I really don't know; I may look like I'm in my late teens by human standards, but I'm really only a little more than ten years old. Based on that, I think it's safe to assume that I won't age at the same rate as humans from here on out either; but I really can't say for sure. That's one of the questions I hope to get answered some day."

I raised my eyebrows. "Oh, okay then. Well, I was going to ask… how do I put this... After Ethan passes away, I might not be in the right mind, and I don't have very many friends. So if you are still alive, maybe I could spend some time with you?"

Jack sighed. "I can tell that you don't enjoy thinking about it; I couldn't imagine what it would be like to actually live through that. Yes though; if I'm still around you can spend all the time you want with me. If I outlive Ethan, then there's a good chance I'll outlive most of my Pokémon too; and if that happens, I'll be glad of your company as well."

I frowned. "I'm glad that you said yes, but… I find it difficult to see Ethan getting old. Like I can't imagine him having kids and a family." I rubbed my eyes again. "I guess I have a while though."

Jack nodded. "Yeah; that future is a long time away, and we have no way of knowing whether it will even happen. Even so, it's good to be prepared. But for now, I'd recommend spending as much time with Ethan as possible; if you're right about all this then you're in for a long and lonely life, and these days with Ethan are probably going to be some of your best memories. Make them good ones."

I nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. We should go and see when we're leaving."

"Right. Let's head back."

We turned and started heading to the Pokemon center. When we arrived, everyone was ready to go.

Ethan walked up to us with a stupid grin on his face. "Where have you guys been? We are leaving here pretty soon."

"We were just talking." I stared at him for a second. "Why are you smiling like an idiot?"

"Well, I just figured out my mom isn't dead; I think you'd be pretty glad to see your parents, wouldn't you?"

That seemed to hit something inside me and I didn't respond for a moment. "Yeah, that'd be pretty great."

I saw Ethan's mom approaching from behind him.

"Who is this?" she asked gesturing to Jack.

"This is Jack Storm," Ethan said. "He helped us stop Splay."

Ethan's mom stuck her hand out. "My name is Keira, It's nice to meet you Jack."

"It's nice to meet you too, Ms. Wilson," Jack said, shaking her hand; looking at him, I could've sworn I saw his expression waver. As though he was trying to hide his true emotions.

I decided to ask him about it later and said to Ethan, "We should be heading now."

Ethan nodded and turned, "Hey! We're leaving now so everybody grab your stuff and let's go."

"Right," Jack said. "Jason, is all our stuff packed and ready to go?"

"Yes, it is," Jack's Lucario brother said. "As you'd know, if you'd actually helped out."

"I was kinda busy offering deep philosophical advice and comfort," Jack said with a straight face.

"Riiight," Jason deadpanned. "But yes, everything's packed, and everyone is ready; we figured it would be best if we all stayed in the Pack for the trip to Kalos, it makes things simpler that way."

"Alright then," Jack said, turning to Ethan and me. "We're all set; we can leave whenever you're ready."

Ethan nodded and said, "Let us be off!"

* * *

><p>The boat trip to Kalos was a long one, but there was plenty to talk about on the way.<p>

"Hey Jack, who're your parents? Not your adopted ones." I asked him. "You seemed pained or something when you shook Keira's hand."

Jack looked stunned for a second, but then he regained his composure and started staring into space as though he was thinking hard about something.

"To tell you the truth," he said solemnly, "I have absolutely no idea; my parents, or the Lucario couple who I consider my parents, they found me in a basket in the woods. They have no idea who left me there, or why. To be honest, my adoptive family is nice, I mean _really _nice, and I wouldn't trade them for anyone else, but I have always wanted to know who my birth parents were."

"Until recently, I had the same goal. Now I know that my dad was Leonidas; I guess I should ask him about my mom." I said smiling at him.

Jack smiled back, albeit half-heartedly. "Yeah; that's probably a good idea. When you do find out, make sure to tell me; okay?"

"Will do."

"This is exactly what I want to talk to you about."

I nearly jumped off the boat as I spun around to see Krominicon standing there holding the Author's Script.

"Things are changing Lucas, weird things." He glanced around for a second. "The future keeps changing over and over and can't seem to make up its mind."

"Do we need to talk about this somewhere private?" I asked.

Kro glanced around again. "Yes, bring Jack as well."

Then he disappeared.

"Well, he didn't tell us where to meet, so I guess we just go somewhere private then." I said shrugging.

We went into one of the bedrooms and Krominicon appeared again.

"Okay, so, the biggest change that keeps happening is about when you meet certain people." He opened the book and flipped through the pages. "Even as we speak you could or could not be meeting important people in the future. This conversation seems to cause a lot of distress to the Author's Script too."

He held the book out for us to see, all I saw were letters scrambling around on the page.

"Didn't you say you'd cut this world off from the influence of the script?" Jack asked.

"I did, but it didn't have the desired effect. The world is no longer set on a specific path, instead it's setting its own course. The script for some reason is still trying to predict what will happen in the fut-" he paused and looked at the Script for a second, then looked back up. "It keeps trying to predict the future, but it can't because there is no set future. Every decision you make changes something, even the smallest things that you don't even think about; like which foot to put forward first."

My eyes got wide as I suddenly gained a whole new view on the world around me. "Whoa, you did not need to say that."

"But I did. Before I removed the world from the script, after Splay's fall the world was going to be peaceful; or at least nothing world threatening would happen. Now I can't guarantee anything." He looked at Jack. "Your future is the most distressed. I won't tell you about what would've happened, but let's just say now I definitely can't."

Jack crossed his arms. "From what I've read, knowing the future is rarely a good thing; it almost never ends well. Maybe this is for the best."

Kro didn't seem to be paying attention to what Jack just said, instead he was staring at the open pages of the script wide eyed. He closed the book sharply and said, "I have to go."

Without another word, he then popped out of existence.

"Well, that was interesting," I said.

"Not the word I'd use," Jack deadpanned. "What's your opinion of all this? Because quite frankly, I think I might have missed something."

"You and me both." I patted him on the shoulder and headed out of the room. "But I'm pretty sure I'll find out one of these days," I said over my shoulder as he followed me out.

The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful, and we were in sight of the Kalos shore in a couple of hours.

The Coumarine shore was almost entirely empty except for a single limousine waiting. Within a few hours we were pulling into the dock and getting ready to disembark. Finally the loading rap was put into place and we were headed to the limo.

The driver got out of the front seat to help us with our bags. He put them in the trunk and we all got into the luxurious vehicle. Jack took one look inside the limousine, and his eyes grew to the approximate size of dinner plates.

"I've heard stories about these kinds of cars," he said in awe. "I never thought I'd get to ride in one."

Ethan shrugged. "You get used to it after a while."

The ride was relatively short as we headed to Lumiose. We stopped just outside of the South-East gate where Looker was waiting with three jeeps. We all stepped out of the Limo and Ethan and I approached Looker.

"So, are we not going into the city first?" Ethan asked.

Looker nodded. "I assumed you guys would want a ride to Alazin, considering Klang doesn't have enough mass to make enough dirt bikes. So I hooked you up with the next best thing."

Ethan nodded. "I think we can all agree that this is much appreciated."

"Yes," I said. "This makes things a lot easier. So, who's all driving?"

"Can I have a go?" Jack asked.

I looked at him in surprise. "You want to drive?"

Jack shrugged. "Sounds like fun; better than running at any rate."

"As long as I am not in the same vehicle," Ethan said, "I'm all about it."

"Thanks for that vote of confidence," Jack deadpanned.

Ethan flashed him a grin. "No problem."

"Well then, I can ride with Jack; but I don't know how to drive so I can't teach him," I said. "How about you Keira? Maybe you can teach him?"

Keira cocked an eyebrow. "Shouldn't I be driving a different one?"

"Oh, yeah. I think Korrina is old enough to drive as well," I said.

Korrina gave me a weird look. "The last time I drove was quite a while ago. But it's probably like riding a bike; maybe."

"Okay then." Ethan said, "We have our drivers set. Jack, this will be a new learning experience. The throttle is on the right, the break is on the left." He gave Jack a thumbs up.

Jack nodded. "Okay then, let's do this; how hard could it be?"

* * *

><p>HA! Famous last words. I'm hilarious.<p>

Jack Storm448: That was actually me.

Me: Oh right. anyway, I hope you are looking forward to the next chapter, it should significantly more exciting... hopefully. I am not making any guarantees about when it will come out because those all disappeared when school started. Remember, please leave a review, i don't even care if you are following the story. I just need to know what I am doing wrong.

See you guys next time, or whatever.


	22. Chapter 21: Rebuilding Part 1

Hello again. yes, i am still alive. I'm sorry this took so long to get out. School, Video game design, and snowboarding has been taking up my time. I don't have a ton to say except that i did this With Jack Storm again. and if i haven't said it enough, you should go and read his storys that he has done.

anyway, enjoy this chapter.

* * *

><p>"OH YEAH, WOO-HOO!" Jack exclaimed in sheer excitement as he floored the gas and sent us roaring down the open road at highway speeds.<p>

To be fair, he didn't seem to have any trouble steering; and his reaction time was beyond human. But that didn't stop me from almost screaming like a girl when he decided to go off-road, and turned a small hill into a large ramp.

Thankfully, no one had died by the time we arrived at Alazin; or what was left of it. We slowly rolled through the remains of the wooden marketplace.

"_Oh my goodness," _I thought. "_Acero wasn't kidding when he said this place was flattened." _I looked over at where the castle should've been but saw only a small pile of bricks.

Acero, who had been in the same Jeep as us, grabbed my shoulder. "You see what I meant Lucas? He literally wiped this place out." He pointed up ahead as some man-made tents. "The human government sent us some supplies, but they refuse to directly help us rebuild. They don't think that their resources should be spent on something so small and insignificant."

"Wow," I said. "I am pretty sure Ethan could change their mind pretty quickly."

"No, we aren't going to take resources from people who aren't willing. That's not how we work." Acero leaned back into this seat.

"Still," Jack said. "We're going to have to get the materials from somewhere; I doubt any of us can build a castle out of air. And besides, you'd be running into walls all the time."

Acero sighed. "You can send Ethan back with someone to get help, but we need people who can heal and lift extremely heavy objects."

I nodded. "We can get that all figured out, for now let's go and see what's going on."

Jack slowly drove us over to the tents and parked the Jeep. We all hopped out as the other two Jeeps arrived.

Ethan walked over with a bored look. "My mom is not the most exciting driver ever. You guys looked like you were having fun though."

"Yeah," I said sarcastically. "Anyway, we are going to need you and some other people to head back and convince someone to give us materials. For some reason the government won't help."

Ethan nodded. "Let's see how they're doing, then we can go."

We all walked over to the tents and sight that first met my eyes was the long row of medical beds. Almost every bed had a wounded Pokémon on it; a large number of them being extremely young.

Jack took one at the dozens of injured Pokémon, then turned to me with a solemn yet determined expression.

"I'm taking over here," he said in a tone that left no room for argument. "Unless I'm very much mistaken, I'm the best and possibly only real healer we have; I'm placing my team under your command until further notice, the Pack is in the trunk of our jeep."

I was taken by surprise by Jack's sudden command over things, but I nodded and jogged over to the Jeep and grabbed the pack. I brought it over to him and he pushed some buttons on it releasing whole team onto the foot trodden grass.

"Alright guys," Jack said to his team, "I'm going to be busy here for a while, so you'll be taking your orders from Ethan and Lucas; I trust you all know why we're here?"

There was a general murmur of confirmation from the group.

"Alright then," Jack said, his expression softening. "Do your best."

They all turned to look at me and I suddenly felt very self conscious. I was about to say something but a female Lucario ran over holding a young Riolu.

"Did someone say they were a healer?" She asked frantically.

Jack walked over and addressed her in Pokéspeak. "I'm a healer, what's the matter?"

She hesitated for a second before replying. "My son, he was injured during the attack. He never woke up this morning and his breath is getting shorter."

Jack nodded. "Come with me to the medical station. Lucas," he said, turning to me, "Good luck."

With that, he turned and lead the Lucario over to the makeshift hospital.

I nodded and turned to Jack's team and was about to say something but I was once again interrupted by another Lucario; this one rather elderly.

"You! You were the one who brought this on us!" He kind of hobbled and limped over with his walking stick. "If you hadn't shown up, we would have kept on living peacefully."

I sighed and said, "I know, but Splay is gone and we have come here to assist you in rebuilding your city. I need to know what we can do to help right now."

The old Lucario scoffed. "What we need is Materials. We can't build homes out of dirt and air! Go and convince your stupid government to lend us some help!"

I sighed again and said, "I was about to send Ethan to do that."

He waved his arms and said "Then get on it!" He turned around and hobbled off.

I looked at Ethan. "You heard him. Take whoever can't help and go back to Lumiose and get their attention. Just don't reveal Alazin to the world."

Ethan nodded and grabbed his mom, his sister, and Serena and they got into a Jeep and his mom started it up. Ethan waved to me as they drove off.

Quarrel then walked over and said, "What can I do?"

"Well," I thought for a moment.

I looked around the camp. There were some tents but not a lot besides the medical area. There were some sleeping pads on the ground gathered in little groups with a half unpacked tent nearby.

"How about we help set up more shelters," I said. "They obviously need some help with that."

Jason walked up to me. "I have an idea."

I nodded and said, "Go ahead."

"Until your human friends get back with some supplies," he said, "we could probably scavenge some building materials from the wreckage of the castle."

I glanced at the pile of rubble with uncertainty. "I don't know if I quite understand. I mean, all that's there is broken stone and wood. Nothing real usable."

"True," Jason agreed, "But there's enough at least for some simple shelters. I'm sure Cap and Katana would be able to cobble something together, they have more than enough experience with building shelters from less than industrial-grade materials; it's come in handy before while we were travelling off-road."

"Okay, how about Cap and Katana take a few others and rummage through what's left. Then we can stay here and set up the more temporary shelters."

"Right," Jason said, walking back towards the rest of Jack's team. A minute later he, Cap, Katana, Solomon, and Wendy headed off towards the ruins of the castle. Lucy the Absol, Aura the Dragonair, Ivy the Servine, and Thomas the Porygon2 then came over to me.

"What can we do to help?" Aura asked me.

"_None of them have hands,"_ I thought, "_Well, Ivy kind of has hands," _

"I can lift things with Vine Whip," Ivy said, as if reading my thoughts; which wouldn't really have surprised me.

"And I can lift things with my tail." Aura added.

"_Well," _I thought to myself, "_That sort of helps. And there's still Acero and Quarrel, they can help too; that's more than enough people to set up some temporary shelters. But what can an Absol and a Porygon2 do?"_

Then, I got it. "Guard duty."

"Guard duty?" Lucy asked curiously.

I nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah; what with the castle destroyed, the walls knocked down and most of the soldiers either dead or wounded from the attack, we're pretty defenceless here. We're pretty much sitting ducks in fact. So that's why we need someone to patrol the perimeter of the city and keep an eye out for any potential threats; that's where you two come in, Lucy and Thomas."

"Why us?" Thomas asked.

Rather than bring up the whole 'hands' issue, I came up with a believable excuse. Fortunately, it made a lot of sense.

"Well, one it gets dark who better to guard this place than a Dark-Type and a Pokémon who doesn't need to sleep?"

Thomas looked at Lucy which what amounted to a shrug. "That actually makes sense."

I nodded in approval of my own idea, and looked up at the sky to see how far the sun was from setting. "_We have maybe a few hours before it gets dark. I wonder if Ethan will make it to Lumiose in time." _

I looked around at the Pokémon milling around, going about their business. "_Hm, most of the survivors are Lucario's." _

Then I remembered something.

"Acero," I said, "What happened to that group of Lucario's that attacked us in Pastoria?"

Acero thought for a moment. "They probably hid or something. Or they were wiped out in the attack."

"Well, there's another reason for guard duty; if they aren't gone and the decide to make an appearance we need to be able to stop them before they cause any damage."

"True," Thomas agreed. "Alright then, we shall go and start our patrol. Coming Lucy?"

"Yeah, I'm coming."

Thomas floated off towards the broken wall, with Lucy following close behind him.

"Alright, now we need to start setting up the tents that we currently have." I said turning and heading to the nearest half unpacked tent. Quarrel and Acero seemed to have the strange ability to set things up with great skill, and within an hour we had almost all the tents up; but it was also getting dark.

"We should start making fires," Quarrel said as we were setting up the last tent.

I nodded and said, "Ivy, why don't you and Aura go and gather kindling and logs for fires and we can start building fire pits."

"I know we wanted to help," Ivy said quietly to Aura as they left to find firewood, "But this is demeaning."

"Just remember," Aura said. "We're doing this for the Pokémon who were hurt in the attack; we're helping them."

I could just barely hear them and I sighed, "_Why did Splay do this?" _I thought, "_If Darkrai hadn't made Dark Aura none of this would have happened. Me and Ethan would still be at home hanging out or something, we wouldn't have been captured and experimented on, we wouldn't have had to watch people die. No one would have died, we wouldn't have to fix the Elite four after this, we wouldn't have even come across this place."_

"_But what else would have not happened?" _Someone asked in my mind.

"_Go away Leonidas, now is not a good time," _I replied.

"_I think otherwise..." _he paused, "_You wouldn't have met Jack." _

Then all the other things that have happened that I wasn't so mad about started pushing their way into my head.

"_Everything happens for a reason Lucas, just keep that in mind," _And without further explanation he left.

I sighed again and started gathering rocks to make a fire pit with. Soon it was dark, and we had seven large fires going.

"How goes things?" came a voice from behind me.

I turned around, and saw Jack walking towards us. He looked absolutely exhausted; there were dark bags under his eyes, and his shoulders were sagged as though he'd been carrying a boulder on a mountain hike.

I shrugged. "Easier than you have it, I assume."

Jack walked up to the fire and sat down; although really, the action would be better described as a controlled flop. He sighed contentedly as his legs no longer had to support him, and then he turned to look at me again.

"Well, what can I say," he sighed. "I said I was a healer, but the only way I can do that is by injecting my own aura into the person I'm trying to heal; the sudden rush of energy charges their metabolic processes, and their body's natural regeneration speeds up as well. Wounds that would normally take weeks, or even months, to close on their own seal up in seconds. Unfortunately, it also leaves me… well, like this; I have to do it in short bursts or I pass out."

"Hm, sounds easy enough. Or is there more to it that just giving them Aura?"

Jack shrugged. "Well the first time I did it, it pretty much happened instinctively; I did it without thinking. After that though, I tried it again and again but I couldn't get it to do anything; I was just tiring myself out. I had to read a few Biology textbooks from a library before I really understood what I had to do; it's all well and good to provide energy, but you also have to know _where _to provide it. Namely, the parts that regulate that natural regeneration I talked about."

I looked at him blankly for a second before saying. "Okay then. It sounds more complicated now. But when I was in that Divine form I was able to heal you with almost no effort at all."

Jack shrugged. "Well, there's probably more than one way to heal someone; simpler ways. Plus, while you were in your… what did you call it, Divine Form? When you were in your Divine Form you seemed to have an incredibly large store of aura; that must have helped."

"I guess so. Maybe if I can Leonidas or someone to teach me how to use it I could help you out."

"That would be greatly appreciated," Jack said, "Although I managed to get most of the wounded back on their feet today; including that little Riolu."

I nodded, "That's good. We should probably get to sleep; you look like you could use it the most."

Jack laughed. "It's that obvious?"

"You have bags under your eyes and you walk like you're tired. Everything about your current appearance says tired." I stood up. "You have a tent you're sharing with your team." I pointed to a bright orange tent a little ways away.

"Thanks," Jack said, getting up. "You're right, I should probably get some sleep; see you in the morning."

I watched him walk off and crawl into the tent, then I sat back down and stared at the fire. Acero and Quarrel had gone off to help some of the other Pokemon set up their sleeping arrangements. Being alone made it easier to think, but after a while I started to sense the emotions of the camp around me; it was possibly the most depressing place I have ever been in. There were almost no happy thoughts going on, everyone was mourning lost loved ones.

"_Leonidas," _I said calling him, "_How do I make the Divine thing work?" _

He appeared sitting next me on the ground.

"Its pretty simple. But there are some things that need to be explained before you start using it." He stood up. "Your Divine form is like a whole different body. It replaces your current one."

I stood up with him. "Is there somewhere you can teach me?"

Leonidas nodded and he turned off into the trees. I followed him through the woods for at least fifteen minutes before we came to a small, moonlit clearing.

Leonidas walked over to the other end. "Stand in the center," he said. I did what he told me and stood in the center of the clearing.

"The Divine form, like I said, replaces your current body; so you need to find the form."

I cocked an eyebrow. "I'm not totally sure what you mean."

Leonidas thought for a moment. "Think of it like a computer basically; you have this form saved in your aura, like files in a computer."

"Uh, okay." I said. I said down cross legged and closed my eyes. I started searching my aura for something unusual, something I hadn't noticed before. I sat there for a good half hour going over everything I had ever noticed and even finding small things that were probably from the mutation Team Spark gave me. But out of everything I found, nothing seemed like it would change me and they definitely didn't have any forms in it.

I let out a frustrated sigh and opened my eyes. "I haven't found anything," I said to leonidas. "You need to be more specific, not just telling me about computers and stuff."

Leonidas looked at me for a second. "Maybe you're not ready yet."

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't I be ready?" I asked standing up.

"I don't know, you don't have the same self control you had so long ago. You tend to let your anger drive you in a fight, especially against your enemies." He looked at me with a sad expression. "You have so much pride as well. This pride comes from being so powerful, you've only ever been beaten by Splay, and then you defeated him."

"Whatever, I am not that prideful," I crossed my arms. "Everyone has a little bit of pride."

Suddenly Leonidas disappeared and I felt someone grab my wrist and twist my arm up between my shoulderblades and I shouted out in surprise. I fell to my knees as Leonidas twisted my arm harder.

I felt my frustration heating up.

"See," Leonidas said, "Can't you feel that? Your natural instincts have labeled me as an enemy and your anger is building. You're also mad because I forced you to your knees so easily. This would keep stacking and you would eventually go into a rage fueled violence."

He let me go and I stood up quickly rubbing my upper arm. Leonidas reappeared in front of me.

"Maybe if you learned self control, and accepted the fact that you are most definitely not the most powerful Pokemon in the world, you might be ready." Leonidas stared at me.

"But what if I am the most powerful? What if I have the right to be prideful? What if what you're telling me is completely pointless and you're just not telling me something?" I pointed at him accusingly.

Leonidas' eyes suddenly had a hurt expression. "This is what I'm talking about." And with that, he disappeared.

"Leonidas?" I said. "Leonidas! LEONIDAS!" I screamed.

"Gah, whatever. I don't need that loser," I muttered to myself. I looked at a nearby tree, I stared at it for a second, then roared and charged an aura sphere and launched it at the base. it hit with a big explosion and sent the tree flipping farther into the woods.

"What did that tree ever do to you?"

I spun around and saw Acero standing there.

I glared at him and said, "Nothing." I started walking back towards the camp.

"You know he's right?" Acero said.

I stopped and sighed. "You don't know that."

"Do you think I got to being in charge of Alazin's army by being prideful? I was just a beginner, I was weak, I was beat down by my superiors and built back up. That taught me that I can't act like I'm the best. There is always someone better, keep that in mind."

I paused for a second, thinking about what Acero just said. I pushed it into the back of my mind for later and started walking again.

* * *

><p>The next morning, everyone got up bright and early; I was up well before the sun was, but I was still in a sour mood from last night, even watching the sun rise over the trees didn't brighten my mood.<p>

I went to that same clearing as last night to watch the sunrise and meditate. I sat there cross legged for a long time before I could feel the heat of the sun and Acero had to come and get me.

"We need to get started, we're falling a little behind schedule," he paused to think. "However, your friend Jack has healed many of the wounded, and most of them have come to help in the rebuilding. The work should go much faster now with so many more hands to do it."

I looked at him over my shoulder and said, "If there are so many people helping, why did you come and get me?"

"Because we need your help lifting the heavier materials," Acero said flatly.

I sighed and stood up, and followed Acero back to the camp. Once there, I saw a group of about two-dozen assorted Pokémon running around the ruins of the castle; carting whatever suitable pieces of rock, or relatively undamaged wooden beams, they could find back to the residential area.

I was about to go and see what there was to do, when Jack came running up to me.

"Lucas!" he shouted.

"What is it?" I asked.

Jack slowed down as he got closer; his expression was one of concern, maybe even fear.

"Have you seen Lucy and Thomas anywhere? I can't find them," he said.

I turned to face him. "Last time I saw them was last night when they left to go and patrol around the camp. Did they not report back in?"

Jack shook his head. "Not with me; and that's not like Thomas. I've got a bad feeling about this, and I've learned to trust my gut feelings; I think something's happened to them."

I nodded. "I'll go and check it out, but I think you need to stay here and help heal people."

"Okay," Jack said, but it was obvious he didn't like it. "Just… bring them back safe, okay?"

I could feel Jack's concern for his friends and I nodded. I patted him on the shoulder and said, "I'll be back soon. I'll call for you if something's up."

With that I turned and headed into the woods. I closed my eyes and found Lucy's aura trail and followed it deeper into the woods.

I wasn't walking for long before I sensed some more aura signatures, including Lucy's. I kept walking until I came close to the edge of a clearing; in the center of which were Lucy and Thomas, unconscious, and tied together on the ground. Surrounding them were at least thirty hooded Lucarios.

I ducked down behind a bush, hoping that I hadn't been noticed already. I peeked through the leaves and stared at the group; apparently they hadn't noticed me yet, and were too focused on discussing what to do with their new prisoners.

Then I got an idea, I could prove to Leonidas that being prideful isn't a problem and I can beat anyone. So with my small and, honestly, half baked plan, I stood up and walked into the clearing.

All heads turned to me, and one of them stated, "Hey! You're the guy who killed Ares!"

I looked at him and said, "How very perceptive of you." I paused and looked at him. "And it looks like you made it back alive."

He snorted. "Barely. Me and a few others are the only ones left from that group. Some human authorities decided to get involved, they captured many of our finest warriors."

I put my hands behind my back. "Well, since some of you have some firsthand experience with my power, why don't I just take my friends and we can pretend this never happened."

No one moved for a second before someone asked the question I was dreading.

"Where's your human friend? Don't you need him or something?"

I shrugged. "For certain things, but I have other ways of dealing with my enemies. Klang?"

I swear I heard a yawn coming from the bracelet on my wrist. "Yeah?"

"Care to show them what I mean?" I asked.

He paused before saying, "Sure."

Klang formed into a sword in my right hand and a motion sensor over my eye.

The group took a step back. "Exactly," I said, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be going." I started walking forward to untie Lucy and Thomas, but then someone interrupted me.

"So it was you."

I looked up to see quite possible the biggest Lucario I had ever seen. He was at the very least six feet tall and this arms seemed unproportionally large, same with his chest and every other muscle on his body.

I tightened my grip on my sword and said, "And who might you be?"

"I'm Hades, Ares' older brother." He glared down at me. "After I'd heard that someone had killed Ares, I vowed to make that person suffer," He grinned sadistically. "Now's my chance."

The crowd parted and he stepped forward. "If you can defeat me, I'll let you and your friends go. If you lose," He leaned forward a little bit, "I get to skin you alive."

"_Hey, uh Lucas,"_ Klang asked, "_Are you sure this is the best Idea? I mean, you could go and get Jack and take this guy down easy. Or better yet I could go and get him, and you can keep him busy. All I'm saying is that this Lucario far outmatches you in strength." _

I scoffed slightly. "_Sure Klang, go and get Jack, but this Hades guy will be done by the time you get back." _

The motion detector fell off and turned into a little R.C. car and drove off.

"So, you want to make the first move?" I asked.

Maybe I should have gone first, because the moment I said that I was suddenly grabbed by the neck and up against a tree, my feet dangling underneath me. I gagged and my brain finally processed what just happened.

Hades had moved faster than I could even follow with my eyes. He was up in my face grinning. he slowly pulled a knife from behind his back and brought it up to my face.

"I am going to enjoy this." He whispered as dark spots started appearing in my vision.

I swung my sword and nailed him right in the side of his rib cage, but I barely scratched his skin. I swung again to the same result. I made an aura sphere in my other hand and shoved into this chest, it exploded but Hades only grunted as his skin was burned and his fur burned off.

"One thing you need to know about me, is that I don't feel pain in any form," Hades said.

My vision was getting really cloudy and my lungs were burning for air. Suddenly I was thrown on the ground and I started gasping heavily.

"I heard you defeated Splay? Was that just luck, or that stupid filthy human in the blue clothes?"

"Don't," I gasped, "Don't you dare talk about Humans that way," I stood up slowly. "Especially about Jack."

I stood up and leveled my sword at him.

We stood there for a second, everyone had gone silent, and we just stared at each other, waiting for each other to make a move.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, using my aura vision instead of my real eyesight.

I saw Hades' aura shift slightly to his right, and I dove in to intercept him as he tried to come at my side. I swung my sword upward, trying to catch the edge of his face. I did catch something, but my sword stopped with a sudden jerk.

Hades had caught the blade and blood started streaming from his hands. I opened my eyes wide as Hades ripped the blade out of my hands and threw it, embedding it into a nearby tree.

I took a step back and charged my arms with aura. But he was still so much faster than me.

In the blink of an eye all the air had left my lung and I was on the ground, curled into a ball clutching my stomach sixteen feet from where I last stood.

I gasped over and over and tried to lift myself up, but Hades was standing on my arm.

"You see, you might think you're the strongest, but in reality, you're not," Hades leaned in close enough that I could feel him breathing on my face. "I would just kill you now, but what would be the fun in that?"

He stood up and stepped off of my arm. I sucked in air and tried to stand up, but Hades kicked my in the stomach which knocked the air out of me again and I just curled back up into a ball.

Hades laughed. "I heard stories of how powerful you can get. But without your pathetic human pet, you're weak."

I coughed and attempted to stand up, I could feel the anger boiling in my gut. I rose to my full height as best I could and wiped my mouth, I looked at my hand and saw blood.

I charged my arms and legs with aura and growled.

"Oh, I'm so scared." Hades deadpanned. "Please, show us what you can really do."

I charged forward as fast as I could and landed a solid punch into Hades' midsection. I expected him to go flying, but instead I practically bounced off of him.

"Clearly, you haven't gotten the message." Hades said. "I am stronger than you, and faster than you; you can't beat me."

I stood there for a second then attacked him again, I punched him over and over and over, but to no avail, he just stood there and watched with a smug look on his face.

In the middle of my barrage of attacks Hades Grabbed my right arm and stopped me. "This has gone on for long enough," And without hesitation he snapped my forearm like a twig.

For a split second it got really quiet, the Hades let go of my arm and I fell to my knees. I looked down at my disfigured limb, I couldn't quite feel it, but I knew any second now I was going to be in a whole lot of pain.

I looked up at Hades with wide eyes, then I felt it, lightning practically arched up my arm and I screamed in pain.

I fell over onto my left side and my arm flopped next to me, making the pain even worse. I felt tears burning my eyes and running down my face.

Hades smirked. "How does that feel?

I didn't respond, instead the light seemed to fade and everything was getting really dark. I hear Hades laughing the background, but it seemed so far away.

Then everything was black.

* * *

><p>And cliff hanger. sorry, this chapter was getting pretty long and would probably be two times as long as it is right now if i didn't do this. plus i don't have part 2 done yet. so yeah. see you next time i guess.<p> 


	23. Chapter 22: Rebuilding Part 2

I don't think this chapter is late. That or i'm not really paying attention any more. Anyways, I probably won't be able to chapter out any faster than my current rate due to school finals. And I'm trying to work on a game I'm making for my personal project. I hope you like this one, I really enjoyed writing it.

* * *

><p>Jack couldn't concentrate; he was too worried about Lucy and Thomas. In his mind he saw only two likely scenarios; either Lucas would have absolutely no trouble finding them and bringing them back, in which case they'd be back soon. Or, the possibility which had him worried, Lucas would bite off more than he could chew; in which case, every second Jack spent not looking for them was another second they were potentially in danger.<p>

It was nerve-wracking; and as such, Jack found himself constantly distracted from his work. And seeing as how he was currently healing the last of the injured Alazin citizens, he really couldn't afford to be distracted.

He'd tended to the more seriously wounded Pokémon the day before, and the most serious injury he'd seen that morning was a fractured toe; still, where healing is concerned, a single wrong move could be… bad.

Jack did his best to focus on his work, but the sheer terror of not knowing was driving him mad. So when he heard a high-pitched whining sound approaching from the forest, he immediately dropped everything and went to see what it was; leaving a young female Lucario staring confusedly after him, with the cut on her left foreleg only half-healed.

He stood near the edge of the thick foliage and waited as the high pitched whining got louder. A little car popped out from under the bushes and stopped in front of Jack.

"Klang?" Jack asked. "Where's Lucas?"

Klang was silent for moment. "Yeah, about that. Lucas got into a bit of trouble and he needs your help."

Jack's eyes got wide, then narrowed in anger. "I knew this would happen," he growled, before dashing into the woods.

As he ran, he felt something latch onto his arm; he looked down to see Klang as a wristband. Jack put on more speed and Klang directed him to Lucas, while telling him what happened.

Jack stopped just outside a clearing full of Lucario's; one of them being exceptionally large, who was standing over an unconscious Lucas.

* * *

><p>I heard a distant boom that disturbed the silence. I almost opened my eyes, but the darkness was so inviting and I just wanted to keep sleeping.<p>

"_Lucas."_

"Five more minutes," I mumbled.

"_Lucas, wake up."_

"Can't I just sleep for five more…"

"_LUCAS!"_

My eyes snapped open, and I realized that everything had gone quiet. My vision was blurry, but I could see that there was a big, blue thing right in front of me; I thought it might be Hades, but once my eyesight cleared up I realized that it was Jack.

"Oh, so you're finally awake," Jack said dryly. "You had one job, Lucas; just one simple job. And what do you go and do? You lose; to that guy, no less."

Jack gestured with his head to a spot behind him; I looked, and saw a lump of blue and black which I realized was Hades. The giant Lucario was clearly unconscious, and had been pinned against a tree by… another tree, which looked to have been uprooted. Surveying the area, I saw that there were quite a few trees lying on the ground around the newly expanded clearing; most of them snapped off about four feet from the ground.

"What… what happened?" I asked. I tried to shift, but stopped when the pain in my arm pulsed. I looked down and stared at the swollen, disfigured limb. I groaned.

"Yeah," Jack said, his tone becoming more sympathetic. "I tried putting it back together, but the bone was pretty much shattered into splinters; even for me that's a tall order. I managed to kick-start the healing process, but I couldn't do much more; it's going to take a while before you can use that arm again; a long while."

"What happened to Hades?' I asked.

Jack's eyes narrowed, and I saw a brief spark of anger there; the same kind of anger I saw when Splay kidnapped our friends way back when.

"Me," he replied ominously; I suddenly felt almost sorry for Hades. "He's just unconscious, so don't worry. And before you ask, Lucy and Thomas are fine; the cultists beat it with their tails between their legs after I curb-stomped the big guy. He was nowhere near as tough as Splay; which begs the question, why couldn't you beat him?"

I looked at my broken arm for a moment then sighed. "I don't know. He was just so much faster and stronger than I expected..." I paused. "I guess I'm not as strong as I thought."

Jack shrugged. "I don't think anyone is."

I laughed weakly. "Is there a way to splint this?"

"That'd be best," Jack said. "But you really shouldn't be moved until we do, so I'd have to go and get the supplies and bring them here; which would mean leaving you alone, and pretty much defenseless. And Lucy and Thomas haven't woken up either."

"I bet Klang could work as a temporary splint." I said looking around. "Where did my sword go?"

Jack looked around, then spotted it over on the other side of the clearing; he brought it over, and Klang jumped off Jack's arm and reassimilated into the blade.

Klang changed into a ball and rolled over to my arm and encased it. It tingled a little as he squeezed under my arm, then he wrapped around my neck and lifted my arm up to my chest. I stuck my left hand out toward Jack, and he helped pull me up.

I started walking toward the camp and said, "Are you going to get Lucy and Thomas then?"

Jack nodded. "I'll be right behind you. And then right in front of you," he added.

"Okay."

As we walked I kept thinking about what Leonidas and Acero had told me, then I my thoughts would go to the encounter with Hades. I glanced down at my arm. "_This totally blows,"_ I thought. "_I won't be able to do anything for a while because Lucario bones take forever to heal. And I won't be able to defend Ethan," _I laughed to myself, "_Or anyone for that matter."_

We eventually made it back to camp, and Jack laid Lucy and Thomas down in the medical bay and checked on my arm; he then went back to healing the injured Alazin survivors.

I went and sat down at the base of a tree near the medical bay and closed my eyes.

"_So, have you realized your mistake?"_

"_Shut up, Leonidas," _I said. "_I'm not in the mood for a lecture." _

"_Which is why you need one," _Leonidas replied. "_Hades just proved my point from earlier. In the middle of that fight you let him get to your emotions ,and that's what drove you. But Hades pummeled you and destroyed your pride. So now you lean against a tree with a broken arm, licking your wounds."_

I didn't respond. I knew he was right and there was nothing I could do to change that. So instead I just remained silent.

"_When your arm is healed, come and find me," _With that Leonidas left.

I sighed and opened my eyes and watched Jack help Pokémon around and heal them. Soon enough, fatigue began to catch up with me and all I wanted to do was sleep; so I closed my eyes.

At some point I felt someone pick me up and move me into a tent, but I didn't bother to open my eyes to find out who.

* * *

><p>I didn't have any dreams that night; but I did wake up with a headache, a sore arm, and a plan.<p>

It took me a while to get out of my tent, as I only had use of one arm and the other one hurt whenever I moved it at all, but I did eventually make it out. I didn't even look around for food or anything; I knew where I was going, and I knew what I needed to do.

I stood at the front of my tent for a moment to think, then I set off into the woods. I came to the same clearing that Leonidas had me at and I sat down in the middle where a patch of sunlight had started to form.

I then started for search every inch of my very being for this divine form; I sat there for hours and just looked. I tried my best not to get frustrated and just keep going, but after about four hours I was hungry and tired and I just wanted this to be over with; but I kept going.

At some point, I think I remember Acero coming by and trying to get my attention, but I was too engulfed in my own thoughts to respond. I'm pretty sure he left some berries too, but I didn't eat them.

I felt it starting to get cold and I cracked open an eye and saw it getting dark. I didn't care, I was going to figure out this Divine thing one way or another.

* * *

><p>"Hey Jack," Acero asked, "Do you know what's going on with Lucas?"<p>

Jack sighed; he'd just finished healing the last of the injured Alazin survivors, and had been looking forward to getting some much-needed rest. But it looked as though his work was not yet done.

"All I know," he replied, "Is that he got beat up pretty badly in his battle with… well, it's a long story. Basically Ares had an older brother, and said older brother tried to get revenge on Lucas for killing Ares; Lucas got beat up, his arm was broken, and I had to come in and rescue him; which I did with great enthusiasm."

"You don't say," Acero deadpanned.

Jack stared of into the distance. "What I'm trying to say, is that going through all that would shake anyone's spirits; and Lucas is, well, between you and me he's kind of prideful by nature. He thinks he's the strongest, and that he doesn't need someone, or anyone else to solve his problems for him; and of course, with his abilities it's easy to see why he thinks that way. Ever since he took down Splay, if I'm honest, pretty much all by himself with that Divine Form of his, he's been feeling pretty much invincible; but suffering such a… '_decisive'_ loss, it must have been hard on him. And now he's trying to get stronger, at all costs; he's trying to prove that he's right. That he is strong."

"Prove it to who?" Acero asked. "I don't think any of us would contest his strength in battle."

Jack looked the Lucario in the eye. "He's trying to prove it to himself."

Acero nodded; Jack's words made a lot of sense. "In that case, what do you suggest we do? Should we just leave him to it?"

Jack sighed. "If I know him he's going to either get stronger, or die trying; we need to make sure it's not the latter."

Acero nodded again. "In that case, we should go make sure he's alright; it's been a while since I checked on him last."

"Agreed," Jack said. "Let's go."

The two of them walked into the forest, following Lucas's aura signature. It seemed strong, as always, so their fears were at least somewhat calmed. As they approached the clearing however, they sensed a disturbance in the ambient aura around them; like ripples in a pond when a rock is thrown in. And the epicenter of the disturbance was Lucas's aura signature.

Acero and Jack looked at each other, then they picked up their pace; practically running through the forest towards Lucas's location. When they got there they were stopped in their tracks by the sight that met their eyes.

Lucas was floating a good three feet off the ground; multiple thick strands of aura were emanating from him, and floating around as if they were in the water. The air around him seemed to hum with energy. It was so intense that it prickled on Jack's skin, and made Acero's fur stand on end.

"Lucas," Jack exclaimed. "Are you alright?"

Lucas didn't respond.

Acero started to walk towards him, but as he got closer it seemed harder to walk; as if some unseen force was pushing him back as he went.

He soon reached a point where the force pushing him was greater than he could push back, and he was almost knocked off his feet.

"What do we do?" He said to Jack in a slightly panicked tone.

Jack folded his arms. "Easy; we wait."

Acero looked at him like he was crazy. "What? What do you mean, 'wait'?"

Jack nodded towards Lucas. "I don't know a whole lot about the extent of his abilities, but judging by the amount of auric energy coming off him, he's close to finding something; closer than he's ever been before. If we interfere, we might just ruin everything; I say we wait a while, and see what happens. If this keeps up, then we'll figure something out; but for now I don't see anything we can do."

* * *

><p>I was so close, I could feel it. I was on the verge of finding something I just needed more energy. I had been draining the aura well extensively for the past two hours and this is as far as I had gotten.<p>

I had narrowed down a small area where something might be hidden; I had looked over it hundreds of times, cutting out small pieces and ignoring them and then moving onto the next section.

I dragged more energy out of the well and made a big push to get in closer.

Then something caught my attention.

I practically pounced on it and tore away anything in my way. After a few seconds, I revealed a small door; a wooden door to be precise, painted blue. I grabbed the handle and opened it, but the only thing I saw on the inside was darkness. I moved in, and then everything went black for a second.

A single blue flame burst to life a little ways in front of me. Nothing else happened so I approached the flame.

I was close enough that I could touch it and I just stood near it. It seemed warm, inviting almost, and it was mesmerizing to watch it.

"Like the view?"

I looked around and saw a Lucario standing at the edge of the light.

He took a few steps forward and asked, "I take it you're Lucas?" He smiled. "It's been awhile hasn't it? You've changed, you look so different now."

I cocked an eyebrow, "Who're you?" I asked.

The Lucario frowned. "You don't remember, it's really been that long?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

He sighed and said, "I am the guardian of the light; the blue flame right in front of you. You've come to unlock the powers that were given to you when Splay disappeared; powers which are currently hidden to you. I am one of the many souls that Splay took in his attempt to destroy the world. I was assigned by the Light to protect this flame until the time was right," He smiled. "If I recall correctly, you recently learned a much needed lesson."

I frowned at him. "Yeah, kinda lost the use of my right arm. Which makes me completely useless."

"So you came so you could use your Divine form to defend Ethan. Yeah, I already knew that," The Lucario crossed his arms. "There are some things that ol' Leo didn't explain to you already."

I was genuinely interested now. "Really? What didn't my dad tell me?" When I called Leonidas dad, it seemed really weird.

"For starters, the Divine form isn't your only form," He paused to let that sink in. "You actually have a form for every type."

"What?" I said.

"Yep; if you pass the trial, you have instant access to twenty new forms," He said enthusiastically. "And if you fail..." He paused as his enthusiasm faded. "Lets just say it's not good."

I thought about that for a second. "You said twenty new forms; aren't there only eighteen plus the divine form? That's nineteen, or am I missing something."

"Ah, you can count. You are correct though, there should only be nineteen forms, but there is another one next to the Divine form. Its called your Void form. It's like the Divine form, except the opposite."

I cocked an eyebrow. "That sounds kind of useless, especially since the Light gave me this."

The Lucario nodded in agreement, "Yeah, it works in mysterious ways. Even I don't fully understand it; Light and Darkness are polar opposites, but Void is… well, quite simply it's nothing; the lack of anything, Light or Dark. Void is the antithesis of everything; and as such, it's a difficult concept to truly grasp. I'm not even certain it can be understood fully; at least, by beings that exist within the confines of reality."

"So I shouldn't try to understand it?" I asked

"Basically yes; you might have an aneurysm if you try," He grinned. "Wouldn't that be exciting?"

"Uh, no? I don't think that would be very fun."

He shrugged. "Well, shall we get on with it?"

"Sure," I said, crossing my arms. "What do I need to do?"

The ball of blue flame floated over next to him, and he lifted his paw and it settled into his palm it as if it were a physical object.

"There are a number of things that I could have you do, all you need to do is pass," He rubbed the underside of his snout with his other paw and said, "How about something simple. If you can take this from me, I'll let you keep it."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Let me guess, not as easy as you make it sound?"

The lucario grinned. "You'll never know until you try."

* * *

><p>Jack and Acero had been sitting at the edge of the clearing for several minutes, waiting for something to happen. Well, something other than what was already happening. But so far the auric wind emanating from Lucas was, if not steady, at least constant. It seemed to perpetually be pulsating; one second it would be relatively weak, then the next moment it would almost blow them over with a sudden gust. But it never went away completely; they figured that was a good sign.<p>

But then, Jack noticed something; he'd been monitoring Lucas's aura ever since they got there, and he'd seen the ripples caused by the auric wind in the ambient aura around them. But now…

"It's quiet," he muttered to himself. "Too quiet…"

"You noticed it too?" Acero asked.

Jack nodded. "His aura isn't fluctuating any more; the wind is still there, but it's… stabilized. It's not making any ripples."

Acero looked back at Lucas, who was still floating in the middle of the clearing.

"I wonder what's changed," he muttered.

* * *

><p>I lay, panting, on my back a few feet from the Lucario, who was still holding the flame. my attempts in acquiring the flame had been in vain. Whenever I was about to grasp it in my hands it just moved.<p>

I sat up and looked at him. "How long will this take? Or is there some other point to this?"

The Lucario looked at me. "I can't answer either of those questions."

I rolled my eyes and stood up. "There has got to be some other way to do this. You aren't going to just hand it to me, and you're not going to just stand there and let me grab it."

He nodded and said, "That is correct, I'm not just giving it to you. You have to earn it."

I cocked an eyebrow. "_He's messing with my head. Heck, we're inside my head." _

We sat there staring at each other while I tried to think of a plan. "_I have other abilities. I can create illusions. Maybe that's what I need to do. I can trick him." _

I focused for second and suddenly there were six of me surrounding the Lucario.

He nodded in approval. "Seems like you got the hang of those hybrid abilities."

"Kind of," One of my duplicates said.

I had a few of them dive in for an attempt to grab the flame, but he just stood there staring at the real version of me as my illusions went through him.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I should've said something earlier, but illusions don't really work in here. At least not on me. You're the only one with an actual aura pulse."

All the duplicates disappeared. "_He said I have to earn it. Does that have something to do with it?" _

I sat down cross legged and thought. Then something Leonidas said popped into my head. '_Everything happens for a reason.' _

"_I learned a lesson on pride, maybe that has something to do with it; but what?" _

I looked at the Lucario; he was tossing the flame in between his hands.

"What's your name?" I asked him.

He glanced at me. "I went by a couple of names, but the one I was best known by is Kratos."

"Alright Kratos, how do you know Leonidas?"

Kratos laughed. "I'm not surprised he never told you; I'm his brother. Which means I'm also your uncle."

"Oh, okay then," I said, giving him a weird look.

He held the flame out in my direction. "Are you going to get this, or not?"

I stood back up. "Yeah, I'm just thinking of a strategy." I looked at the flame for a second then asked, "Can you give me hints on what I'm supposed to do?"

Kratos shrugged. "Sure I can, but that doesn't mean I will."

"Well," I said a little frustrated. "Can you give me a hint?"

"What's something you learned recently? Just a different aspect to it."

"_So it does have to do with pride," _I thought.

I crossed my arms and stared at the flame. After a few minutes Kratos spoke up.

"You have so many other ways to get this, why are you just trying to catch it with your hands?" Kratos cocked an eyebrow. "Plus, we're inside your head, you control this realm."

I nodded, this made it very easy to come up with ideas.

"I held my hand out and willed the flame to float into the air and drop into my hand. After a few seconds I thought I was going to burst a blood vessel and I stopped.

Kratos frowned. "See, you're limiting yourself to the effects of the outside world. In here, nothing applies; no laws, no physics, nothing. It's literally your own world; anything you desire can happen, you're just not doing it right." He held the flame out. "Try again."

I held my hand out a second time and willed the flame to me. I wanted it so bad. "_If I have this, I will still be able to protect Ethan and his family. If I get these powers I could be so much more powerful." _

Still, nothing happened, all it did was flicker there in Kratos' hand; practically mocking me.

"Is that the only reason you want it? Is to be powerful and protect Ethan? Are those the only two reasons that you can think of?" Kratos turned around and started to walk away.

I stopped trying to get the flame and shouted, "Hey! Where are you going?"

"Somewhere more interesting," Kratos called over his shoulder.

I growled, and forced four auric walls to come down from the sky and box us in. To my surprise it worked; we were both stuck in a giant cage.

Kratos turned around with a look of surprise on his face.

I stuck my hand out a little farther. "You will give me the flame Kratos."

The flame didn't move.

"Really? How badly do you want it?" Kratos waved it around. "Is it really worth it? This much power can get so someone's head."

"But if I fail, things won't end well," I said, "You said it yourself."

Kratos thought for a moment. "I did, but how about this; I'll let you leave, then you can come back when you're truly ready."

I didn't even hesitate. "NO! I will have that flame NOW!"

The flame jumped a little bit, but didn't fly into my hands.

Kratos gave me another look of surprise. "How did you do that?"

"I want those powers, more than you could understand," I growled. "If I don't have those, I will be useless; a waste; just another mouth to feed. I won't be doing anything, I'll be lying around with a broken arm wasting my time while I could be doing something productive. You don't understand because all you do is sit in this pit and watch the world through my eyes. Through my lives. The last time you ever truly loved someone was when you were actually alive. But now you're dead and you're sitting here everytime I die, waiting for me to find this place and come and do this again! What's the point? Just give me the flame and I can be helpful."

Kratos was giving me a dark look. "You are clearly mistaken," he said quietly. "The last time I truly loved someone, was when I watched you grow up. I saw you grow up so many times. How could I not love you," He sighed. "You may have watched people die, but not like me. I watched my mate and kids literally get ripped to pieces by Splay. You want to know how I died? I died trying to avenge my family! I understand that you want to protect Ethan and his family, but if you want this power, you're going to have to earn it."

"How do I earn it then?" I asked.

Kratos stared at me with a hard look. "I would say a duel, but you far outmatch me."

"But you've been able to keep the flame away from me this whole time," I said.

"I may be faster. But after a while my stamina would start to fail me, and you would catch up." He paused, and a small grin appeared on his face. "How about we take a look into your past?"


	24. Chapter 23: Kratos's lesson

Wow, this seriously took forever to get out. but i'm not apologizing anymore because its schools fault for it being this late. that and video games.

anyway, enjoy this chapter and leave a review or something. I do have to give credit to Jack Storm because he helped and i don't think i gave him any last chapter, so here i am again telling you to go and read his story if you haven't already. wow that is getting old.

enjoy!

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><p>It had been several hours since Jack had noticed the change in Lucas's aura, and since then the sun had set and the moon had appeared above the trees. He and Acero had decided to take shifts watching Lucas; Jack would stay awake for a few hours until he started getting drowsy, at which point he would wake Acero who would take over.<p>

However as Acero was obviously exhausted from a hard day's work, and Jack had more than a little experience with pulling all-nighters, the boy had pretty much decided to take the better part of the night as his 'shift' and let the Lucario catch some sleep.

Jack glanced at Lucas, who was still floating in the center of the clearing; his aura was still stable, as was the wind surrounding him. Acero had been forced to go a little ways away from the clearing just to escape the constant flow of air, which would otherwise have kept him awake.

Jack sighed. "What's going on in your head, Lucas?"

Then, as if in response to his question, something changed. Jack was suddenly aware that the clearing had gone completely quiet; the only noise had been the constant wind, but now it had disappeared completely. As Jack watched, Lucas slowly fell to the ground; gently, as though he weighed no more than a leaf.

Careful, watching Lucas like a hawk in case something else happened, Jack slowly crept toward the meditating Lucario. Once Jack was within arm's length of Lucas, he held out his hand and put a finger on his forehead; with a physical connection between them, it was child's play to bypass Lucas's mental defences and slip inside his mind.

He briefly wondered if he should wake Acero, but decided against it; he would still be conscious of what was going on around him, so if something did happen he'd know about it.

"Geronimo," he muttered.

* * *

><p>I sat under a tree, my head pounding; shivering uncontrollably from the oppressive cold. Sitting in the middle of an endless forest, as the snow lightly fell around me. The constant convulsions were getting worse and worse. I decided that staying there was not going to help; I needed to move.<p>

"Brrr… Why did he leave me here to die?" I wondered, getting a strange sense of deja-vu for some reason.

I knew whining wasn't going to help me at all, so I sat up and stared into the darkness of the evergreen trees. I stood up, my back aching from sitting curled up in the soft, powdery snow; my headache didn't help the situation either…

Vaguely aware that something strange was going on, I slowly started walking; increasing my pace little by little. For a good long while, the only sound I heard was the sound of my own footsteps and the snow crunching underneath. I folded my arms and started moving them up and down, trying to create friction to warm my freezing body.

Suddenly a low, ominous growl made me stop in my tracks.

"Oh no," I muttered under my breath, which I could see clearly in front of me. "This is it; a giant Arcanine is going to jump out and tear you to pieces, Lucas."

Wait a second, how did I know that it was an Arcanine; and how did I know my name was Lucas? I wasn't called Lucas yet, that didn't happen until…

I fell to my knees, hurting them in the cold snow. I remembered everything; this had all happened years ago, it was just a memory which Kratos was forcing me to relive. And thinking about it now, I knew what happened next. I sat and waited as the growl got closer, and I neared the end. I turned my head just enough to see what was behind me; sure enough, a massive Arcanine was slowly crawling towards me in a 'ready to pounce' position.

I turned my head back to face forwards; I knew how this turned out, I knew I didn't die here. But that didn't make it any less terrifying. I closed my eyes and listened to the soft footsteps of the Arcanine. The low growl turned into a ferocious roar.

He pounced.

Then I heard someone in the trees shout, "Hydro Cannon!"

A blast of water knocked the arcanine away and into a tree. It laid limp for a second before getting up and running, whimpering, off into the woods.

I looked up to see a man step out from the shadows of the tree followed by an Empoleon. The man walked up to me and knelt down in front of me.

He offered me his hand and I took it and he helped me up. He took off his coat and put it around me and he began to guide me through the woods.

After a while I wasn't able to keep up because my legs were stiff and cold and the jacket he gave me was huge on me and it definitely dragging me down. The man noticed and he picked me up instead.

He carried me through the woods for a while until we got to a white pickup truck parked on the side of a road. He set me in the passenger seat and returned his Empoleon to its pokeball.

He got into the driver seat and started the car and turned on the heat. Then everything was starting to get really foggy and I heard Kratos' voice.

"_What did you notice?" _He asked.

"_The same thing I've noticed everytime I have a nightmare about this, a stranger helped me and brought me to his home," _I replied.

Kratos didn't respond. Instead the light started dimming and everything went black.

Then everything started to brighten again.

I was sitting on the couch in Ethan's old house watching TV. I looked over at Ethan, he only seemed to be around four years old; not even starting school yet.

I looked back at the TV and Ethan's parents walked into the room followed by Korrina who looked unhappy.

"But I don't want to babysit Ethan," Korrina complained.

Ethan's mom turned around and said, "It won't be for very long. we'll be back soon. We're just going to get dinner."

And then I realized when this was.

Ethan's dad had his pokeballs in his pocket and his mom had them in her purse. His mom walked over and kissed Ethan on the forehead and kissed Korrina and they left. We all heard the car start and leave the driveway.

The scene shifted and it was dark and I and was lying in bed in the same room as Ethan. I heard someone bang on the door and Korrina walked down the hall to answer it. I glanced at the clock on the nightstand, it said 11:39. I didn't get out of bed, but I heard the door open and after a few moments of silence people started walking around the house and I heard Korrina start crying.

Ethan woke up and looked at me with a look of confusion. We both slipped out of our beds and walked down the hallway. There were a couple of men where combat armour and a couple more wearing trench coats. I recognized them as Interpol agents.

I looked over and saw Korrina sitting on the couch broken down into tears, and when the agents noticed us walk one of them walked up to Ethan and knelt down in front of him and told him what had happened.

This was the night that Ethan's parents never came back.

To my surprise Ethan didn't break down like Korrina, Instead he denied that his parents were gone. He and the agent started arguing and the scene shifted again.

We were in a different house now. Korrina didn't seem to be around and the sun was going down. Ethan and I were again sitting on a couch but the TV wasn't on and Ethan seemed to be staring blankly into space. I looked at him, he was older, maybe nine or ten now.

Someone opened the door and Korrina stepped in, she looked to be about fourteen or fifteen. This was near the time she became one of the youngest gym leaders in Kalos.

She walked in completely exhausted and she sat down next to Ethan.

"How was school?" She asked.

Ethan didn't respond for a second then he replied, "Good."

Korrina sighed. "How are you grades looking?"

"Good."

Korrina looked at him. "Are you okay? Did something happen today?"

Then I remembered what day it was, and the scene started shifting again. Now we were in Ethan's elementary school. We were out on the playground during recess and there was a group of older boys in front of us.

"Hey! Why do you have your pokemon out?" The biggest one asked.

"I have special permission." Ethan said proudly.

"Well you're not aloud to. It's school rules." The big kid crossed his arms "Is your special permission because your parents are dead."

Ethan froze. I could feel his pain. That had struck a point. Ethan didn't respond instead he looked down at his shoes.

The bigger kid laughed and I stepped between them. I let out the best growl I could and this seemed to make the kid laugh harder.

I felt Ethan's hand on my shoulder and I looked at him.

"He's not worth it." He said, and I suddenly saw an older version of him in the ten year old's eyes.

We turned and walked away.

The scene shifted and we were back in our house.

Korrina was hugging Ethan and she said, "How about we get some dinner? We could go and get pizza? And we could go eat at the gym."

Ethan smiled, he seemed attracted to the gym a lot and it always seemed to cheer him up.

We stood up and started out the door and everything got foggy again.

I waited for the fog to pass and this time I was viewing from inside a pokeball. Ethan was walking through the middle school. It was his seventh grade year, the last year he'd gone to school.

It was lunch time and Ethan moved over to a table where he sat down alone and let me out of my Pokéball. I had evolved by now, and Lucario's tended to be kind of rare around Kalos.

A kid came over, the same kid who kept challenging Ethan to a battle every single day.

"Hey," He said, "I bet your Lucario isn't as strong as you say he is."

Ethan shrugged. "Like I said before, I don't have anything to prove. I know he's stronger than any of your pokemon and there's nothing that needs to be said."

He stood up.

"Then why don't you prove it?" he said, "I've been asking you this for like two weeks and you say the same thing over and over. We can go out to the field and we can handle this here and now."

Ethan looked at him with a bored expression. "Fine," He said, "If you never ask me again, I'll battle you now."

We stood up and I followed Ethan and the boy out into the school field and they positioned each themselves across from each other and I stood in front of Ethan.

The boy pulled a pokeball out of his bag and he tossed it in the air.

"GO LUXRAY!" He shouted as he tossed the ball in the air.

With the usual flash of light, a strong looking Luxray looked at me with a look of superiority.

"Luxray, Thunderbolt!" He pointed his finger at me dramatically and the Luxray charged up the attack and launched it.

Ethan never gave an order so I just stood there. The attack struck dead on but didn't seem to do much.

I shrugged it off and Ethan said, "My turn. Lucario, Aura Sphere."

I formed an Aura Sphere in my hands and launched it at the Luxray. The trainer, being stunned by the fact that the attack hardly affected me, didn't react fast enough to tell his pokemon to move. The Luxray took a direct hit from the Aura Sphere and was launched back into his trainer.

The Luxray was out cold.

A crowd had gathered around spot where we were battling and I looked around at all the awestruck faces.

A teacher pushed his way through the group of kids and to the front of the crowd. He was the pokemon trainer director at the middle school, Mr. Stryker, and when he saw the scene in front of him he gained the same awestruck expression.

He pointed at Ethan and said, "Come with me." he paused, "And bring your Lucario."

We followed him through the crowd and back into the school. We Followed Mr. Stryker to his office and he looked at Ethan.

"How many moves did it take you?" He asked.

"One," Ethan replied. "But he went first."

Mr. Stryker nodded. "Have you ever considered going on a journey?"

Ethan shrugged. "Kind of. But I would like to do something that would be better for my future. Like something in computers."

Mr. Stryker nodded understandingly. "That's true, but you should still try it. It has a lot of life experience and might even come out with something beneficial."

Ethan sighed. "Sure, I'll do it. What do I need to do?"

The memory started fogging up and I was standing in the black room with Kratos again.

"Tell me something you saw; something that was in every single memory I showed you." Kratos said.

I thought for a moment. "Do you want to give me a hint?"

Kratos sighed, "Oh my gosh. How can you not see it? If it were a Seviper, it would be biting you right now."

"Just give me a hint and I'll figure it out." I said.

Kratos rolled his eyes. "You are hopeless. It starts with an H."

I thought for a moment, then I threw out a wild guess. "Help?"

Kratos' eyes got wide and he said, "YES! Yes that's it!" He laughed. "That went faster than I thought."

I frowned,."So I had help through all of those memories?"

Kratos shook his head. "You've had help your entire life, I'm surprised you never saw it." He paused. "In your first memory, Ethan's dad was there to help you; in the second, Ethan and his sister were there; in the third it was that teacher at the middle school that helped you."

"So, in order for me to get the flame, I need to ask for help?" I asked.

Kratos nodded. "That's a possibility," Then he grinned. "Who are you going to ask?"

"Jack Storm obviously," I said. "How do I ask him?"

Kratos' grin widened. "That won't be necessary, he's already here."

Suddenly Jack materialized out of thin air and looked around startled.

I cocked an eyebrow. "Have you been here the whole time?"

Jack shrugged, obviously deciding to just go with the flow. "No, I only got here about five minutes ago; what did I miss?"

"Not much," I said. "I assume you know what we need to do?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, but one question; why do we need to get that flame anyway?"

"You know what Divine form that I turned into? I need to get that, in order for me to transform again." I paused. "And it comes with a bunch of other stuff I can tell you about later."

Jack nodded again. "Okay; in that case, what doesn't work?"

"So far, I've only tried to jump at him and take it, but as you can see it hasn't worked."

"He said you needed my help," Jack said. "Maybe we need to corner him or something; double team him."

I looked at him blankly, "From what I can tell, this place is endless. I don't think there is even a corner to trap him in."

Jack shrugged. "Then I'll make one; I'm assuming that, even in here, type advantages apply. So…"

With that, Jack cupped his hands together; there was a small spark of light, which quickly expanded into a bright orange flame. Jack spread his hands further apart, and the flame grew into the space between them. Then Jack spread his arms out straight on either side of him, and the flame divided and spread out as well; forming what looked like a solid wall of fire.

It wrapped around us, rising up from… what I could only assume was the floor, and the flames reached up well above our heads by at least a few meters. The shape of the, for lack of a better name, 'firewall' was a triangle with Kratos in the corner opposite Jack.

Jack grinned. "Now can you corner him?"

I shrugged, "Probably."

I lunged at Kratos and he disappeared.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder, I turned around and saw Kratos standing there.

"What the heck." I turned and tried to grab him again but I only got the same effect.

"How do you keep doing that?" I asked.

Kratos appeared next to Jack and said, "I have control over this realm just as much as you do. So technically I can do whatever you can do." He looked at Jack. "Except for you. You can't do anything."

"Well," Jack said, "I can obviously do some things; like this."

The firewall behind Kratos suddenly spewed a stream of fire at him, but the flames stopped inches from Kratos and then all the fire just vanished.

"The only reason you can do anything, is because I am letting you. I can sense the commands you are trying to give and I'm the one making them happen." He looked at me, "However, I cannot control what Lucas does."

"That makes sense, since we're inside his mind right now," Jack said. "You know, this reminds me of the virtual reality world inside my Pack; in there, your abilities are only limited by your perception of reality. Your subconscious mind is tricked into thinking that you're still being governed by the laws of reality; and because you believe those limitation are there, you can't break them. But if you can get past that illusion, you can literally do anything you can imagine; except apparently it only works for you, Lucas."

"So what can I do?" I asked Kratos.

He gave me a blank stare, "Were you even listening to Jack? Your abilities are only limited by what you believe is possible."

"So why can't I move the flame?" I said frustrated.

Kratos shrugged. "I honestly have no idea. Maybe it's not meant to be."

I looked at Jack. "So if you can just teleport," I said to Kratos, "How are we supposed to get it? All you need to do is move and then we can't get it."

Jack's eyes got wide. "Kratos said he can't control you, and you can't control the flame; but what if you took away Kratos's power to teleport? This is your world after all, you should be able to manipulate it and everything, or everyone, inside it."

I nodded and said, "That makes sense." Then I looked at Kratos, "How would I take his ability to teleport though? That just sounds impossible."

"Try imagining him being unable to move," Jack suggested. "Tie him to the ground with invisible chains or something; and make them auranium, just for good measure."

"What if instead of chaining him to a spot, I just froze him altogether." I said as I held my hand out in his direction.

I concentrated on the image of Kratos in a block of ice, then suddenly he stopped moving.

"You go and see if he moves while I hold him down." I said.

"Will do," Jack said, taking a step forward; but then he too froze in place, and didn't move an inch.

"_Okay," _I heard Jack say telepathically, "_That's weird; I can't move. I think Kratos is blocking my signal, or something…"_

I knew exactly what Kratos was doing. I tried to grab a hold of Jack and take control of him, but I immediately came across a barrier that was built up by Kratos.

I growled and started battering the barrier with different attacks, ranging from swords to lasers.

The barrage of attacks was working and I was a crack appear. Then I grabbed the edges of the crack and pulled it wider, revealing Jack's mental avatar. I pulled the crack until the whole barrier ripped to pieces and then I wrapped my own barrier around Jack, replacing Kratos's barrier.

Jack shivered, as if shaking off thick cobwebs.

"Thanks," Jack said. "That was freaky; two more seconds and I was going to start breaking things."

"I don't think you would have the ability to break things," I said flatly. "Anyway, now you should be able to go and grab the flame."

Jack nodded and walked over to Kratos, who was still frozen in place. He reached his hand out to grab the flame, but his hand passed right through it and nothing happened.

"Uh… Lucas, we have a problem," Jack deadpanned. "I don't think it likes me."

"Yeah, I noticed," I sighed as my heart rate suddenly started speeding up. "I guess I'm the only one who can grab it."

I started walking forward while keeping Kratos frozen in place. I was standing inches away from him. I reached my hand out and the flame started glowing brighter.

When my hand make contact it felt like a solid object. Then everything went white.

* * *

><p>Acero was woken to the sound of an extremely intense wind whistling over his head.<p>

He shot up from the spot he was laying down and immediately started heading towards the spot Lucas was. As he got closer the wind got progressively stronger; just like earlier.

He barely reached the clearing before he had to grab hold of a tree to keep from being blown away.

Acero squinted in the direction of Lucas and saw that he was now on the ground, but now Jack was sitting next to him with his hand on Lucas's shoulder.

"Lucas!" Acero shouted. "Jack!" But his words were lost in the wind.

Jack's eyes opened suddenly, and he looked over at Acero. He raised his left hand, the one not on Lucas's shoulder, and waved at Acero; he raised his index finger, as if to say 'wait there a minute". As if he could do much else.

"_Stuff's about to go down,"_ Jack said telepathically. "_Lucas grabbed the flame."_

Acero gave him a confused look, but he didn't have time to ask questions as Lucas's eyes opened as well; except his were glowing white.

Jack let go of Lucas and the hybrid Lucario started to float up into the air. Jack was suddenly lifted off of his feet and thrown to the edge of the clearing where he landed on his feet; the only problem was he was standing on the trunk of a tree, and he was parallel to ground. The wind was so intense, it was effortlessly holding him up.

"_I would not recommend trying that at home," _Jack telepathically commented to Acero.

Lucas floated higher into the air and he straightened out into a standing position. Light began emanating off of him and illuminating the clearing almost as brightly as daylight. Gradually, the glow coming off of Lucas grew even brighter than the sun.

* * *

><p>I was still in the black room with Kratos; except now I was holding the flame. Kratos was unfrozen and he was smiling wide.<p>

"Good job," he said. "You did it. You should go now, you're friends outside are probably going to need you to stop the wind."

I looking at him blankly. "What?"

"You'll see." He grinned, "Oh, and one more thing, if you ever want to talk to me or ask me questions, you know where to find me."

He waved and then everything started becoming distorted and then I was outside the door inside my aura.

I looked around and saw that my aura had a brighter tint to it. Then I remembered what Kratos had said about the wind and I exited my aura and into my normal state. I quickly realized what Kratos meant by wind.

I was floating six feet off the ground, surrounded by a vortex of auric energy which was creating powerful currents in the air. I looked over to the side and saw Jack standing sideways on a tree, and I saw Acero hanging for dear life on a different tree.

I absorbed the aura and the wind disappeared; making Jack fall flat on his face.

"Not cool!" Jack exclaimed, rubbing his nose. "That's probably the last time I'll ever say 'not cool', so don't get used to it. Anyway, it looks like the flame thing worked."

I dropped to the ground with a thud and looked down at myself; I had transformed into my Divine form. It looked a lot like an average Mega-evolution except the fur on my torso was pure gold, everywhere there was supposed to be blue was white, and everything else was a light gray. Where my chest spike was supposed to be there was a round amber stone, which was surrounded by bands of metal that wrapped around my chest and neck.

I grinned as I suddenly felt butterflies in my stomach.

"I did it," I said. I looked at my right arm, Klang was still wrapped around it. "Klang, you can get off of my arm now."

He wrapped around my arm in a bracer type form.

I looked at Jack, who had lost interest in me and seemed to be trying to figure out how to walk up a tree; to my surprise, he actually got a couple meters up before he fell off. Again.

"Wow," I said, "Thanks Jack, I just passed over a huge barrier and you're trying to walk vertically."

"Shh," Jack said. "Don't break my concentration; it's tricky, but I think I've almost got it!"

"Well, I'm going to see if I can control what form I'm in, so let me concentrate." I said.

I sat down cross legged and went back into my aura. I began to concentrate, trying to… I don't know, 'unlock' my new forms, but I was interrupted by an elated exclamation from Jack.

"Hey, Lucas; I figured it out!"

My eye twitched and I looked at him; he was standing more than six feet off the ground, and seemed to be in no danger of falling off. For now at least.

"I said, I'm trying to concentrate!"

I stood up and ran over to the tree and put one foot on the trunk and began running up the tree. Jack shouted in surprise and ran further up the tree.

"You'll never take me alive!" Jack yelled back to me.

"Come back here!" I shouted.

* * *

><p>And make sure to leave a review because there are people who read this and don't leave a review and it drives me crazy. You know who you are. I need them to make sure i'm doing a good job.<p>

also i have some plans that i may have mentioned before. This is almost over and i have two more sequels planned so i guess you should stick around to see those.


	25. Chapter 24: Out of the Frying Pan

Hello! I have no regrets!

Sorry, anyway, I would like to make an announcement. This chapter is officially my biggest chapter Ever. Also, another announcement... which will be at the end of the chapter. sorry.

anyway, this one was quite a bit of fun to write. It added some new elements to my sequels, which now have an actual plan rather than being an idea, and let me tell you, it's going to be awesome. Hope you enjoy this! please tell me if something went wrong with the copy and paste thing, or if you notice any big errors. It helps me become a better writer.

also i need to give a lot of credit to Jack Storm 448, again. He has helped a lot throughout this entire story, and will probably continue to help.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Jack sat on the ground at the edge of the clearing, rubbing his nose; apparently he hadn't quite mastered the 'running up trees' technique. Fortunately he decided, under duress, to take a break from that particular pastime; which gave me a chance to meditate.<p>

I was thinking about what would be taking Ethan so long to get back while I was looking at my aura and sorting out all the new stuff that had suddenly been added.

The flame was floating around randomly and I kept trying to keep it in one place; I hadn't really looked into the flame to see if there really were other forms inside it, for the simple reason that I could barely hold it still long enough to do so. I decided to take a quick break before trying again, but then my thoughts were dragged to something else.

My eyes popped open and I looked at Jack, who was still looking decidedly sore from the whole tree escapade earlier; in more ways than one.

"Where's Roy?" I asked.

Jack furrowed his brow. "You know, I haven't seen him around much lately. Actually, I don't think I've seen him since two days ago; just after we arrived here. What about you, Acero?"

Acero shook his head. "I have not seen him since then either; I believe he went to explore the ruins of the castle, or something of the like, but I don't know where he's gotten to now."

I stood up in a half panic. "I have to go and find him."

"He's probably fine," Acero said.

I looked at him. "And what about those cultist guys that were with Hades?"

Acero nodded. "When you put it that way, we should probably go find him."

I looked at Jack. "How well do you think you'd be able to follow his aura trail?"

Jack scratched the back of his head. "Honestly, I think you'd be better at that than me. What I can do though, is see if I can locate his mind in the immediate area. Failing that, I might be able to find his tracks; if I can, then Lucy or Katana might be able to follow them. They're both pretty skilled trackers."

"Alright," I said. "Do you think it would scare anyone if I walked around like this?"

"I wasn't going to say anything," Jack deadpanned, "But you do kinda look like Arceus come to rain fiery judgment upon the earth. Besides; if something has happened to Roy, we'll want to go for 'inconspicuous' as much as possible. And inconspicuous, you are not."

I sighed and said, "In that case I should probably figure out how to change back now. It shouldn't be too hard."

I told Klang to wrap back around my arm so that it wouldn't get messed up when i changed back and then I went into my aura and located the flame. I touched it and then a whole bunch of different signatures popped up everywhere. I found the one that resembled my normal aura and touched that.

I felt a surge of energy and suddenly I felt weaker. I opened my eyes and saw that I had changed back, with Klang wrapped around my broken arm; I suddenly remembered how much it hurt…

I rubbed my arm and winced.

"Your arm still bothering you?" Jack asked. "You looked fine while you were in your 'Divine Form', thing."

I gave him a blank stare. "You don't think I noticed that either? It's like another body that I can take control of while my other one is stored somewhere."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "That's interesting; although it sounds to me like a potential weakness…"

"Hm, I haven't thought of it that way. I guess it's because I have nineteen other forms apparently."

Jack's eyebrows shot skyward at that. "Nineteen… as in, 19? What are you ever going to use nineteen forms for… You know what, never mind that; we can discuss the practicality of multiple bodies later. For now, we should focus on finding Roy."

Jack closed his eyes and concentrated; I could feel his mind expanding, reaching out past me into the surrounding area to search for Roy's mind. After a few seconds, he scowled and opened his eyes.

"No trace of him," he said. "He's not within a mile of us, that much I know."

I nodded. "We should head back to the camp and see if we can find him there. If we can't we'll split up and see if that doesn't work."

"No need to be so pessimistic," Jack commented wryly.

I frowned at him and said, "Let's go."

We headed in the direction of the camp, along the way Jack reached around for Roy's mind.

We arrived at the camp, and saw everyone in a near-panic; when they saw us, a group of Lucarios rushed over to make sure it was really us. We pushed through the mob, answering as many questions as to our whereabouts as we could, until we got to the main portion of the camp. Over the time we were gone, it seemed that the camp had expanded with dozens of new tents and temporary huts.

Soon, we came across Thomas the Porygon2 and Quarrel who were working on clearing away more of the rubble from the castle; probably to make more huts, although it looked to me like we had more than enough.

"I see you've returned," Thomas commented; he didn't seem surprised in the slightest. "What kept you?"

Jack shrugged. "Stuff. Have you seen Roy around? And what's with everyone freaking out?"

If Thomas had eyebrows, he would've raised them. "You have been gone for twenty-one hours and thirty-eight minutes. At about the eight-hour mark, people started to notice that the three of your were missing; by ten hours, they'd started sending out search parties. Apparently the Lucarios, Jason included, were unable to locate you using their auras; something about 'intense interference'."

"Yeah, that was probably us," Jack deadpanned. "We were having a bit of a… thing."

"I can imagine," Thomas responded. "In any event, a good portion of the Lucario population of Alazin are currently out looking for you; as well as our entire team. I was the only one to stay behind, in case you came back; apparently it was a wise precaution. As the young Riolu, Roy, I have not seen him since the day we arrived."

Jack nodded. "Okay, thanks anyway." he turned to me. "I'm going to call my team back here. If that 'aura trail' is actually a thing, then see if you can find Roy's; it might give us an idea where to start looking."

"Okay," I looked at Acero, "You help me find Roy's trail." I looked back to Jack. "When you've gotten your team together come and help me."

"I'm just contacting them telepathically," Jack said. "I've got a constant link with all of them; trouble is, I don't usually pay attention to it so even if they try to get my attention it doesn't always work…"

"Okay then." I said, "Me and Acero are going to get a head start then."

Jack nodded and Acero and I headed off. I closed my eyes and I tried to locate Roy's aura, but there were already so many stale aura signatures around that it was extremely hard to pick one to follow.

As we headed further and further from the camp the stale aura began to lessen and it was easier to isolate individual tails. I found one that seemed similar to Roy's, but I couldn't be sure.

Me and Acero followed this one for a while but we came across a point where there was another one that merged with it. This one was different though, it seemed older; a lot older, yet young at the same time. I followed both trails for a while before I started sensing something powerful ahead.

I continued to follow the trails; though at this point I didn't even need to use my aura vision, I could feel the power and I was going in that direction.

"Hey, Lucas," Jack called from a ways behind us; I looked back and saw that he was alone. "Have you found him yet?"

I shrugged. "Can you feel that?"

Jack nodded, running up to us. "Yeah, I think so; I'm not sure what is is though."

"Does it feel..." I paused for a moment, "Ancient almost?"

Jack furrowed his brow. "I don't know; what does 'ancient' feel like? It certainly feels powerful, that much is obvious; remember, I'm nowhere near as proficient with aura as you. After all, I'm not a Lucario myself; I was just trained by one."

I nodded and said, "I swear I've felt this somewhere before, but only for a short time..." Then I remembered. "It was when we were at the Hall of Origin! I know that much."

I turned toward the direction of the power and started walking faster.

I could see a tall wall of bushes through the trees. I picked up the pace.

I reached the wall of bushes and tried to push my way through to the other side but for some reason I couldn't. I could feel the power on the other side, and when I looked closer there were two aura signatures, one of them was definitely Roy. I pushed harder on the bushes but to no avail.

I was totally baffled. "How the heck, are bushes stopping me?" I rolled my eyes and opened up my aura and located the flame. I touched the Divine form and transformed with a bright flash of light. Klang turned from a splint back into a bracelet on my arm.

I walked back up to the bushes and attempted to punch through them, but instead my fist collided with a solid wall.

I stepped back and let out a frustrated sigh. "How!?" I shouted, "How in the name of Arceus are these _bushes _stopping my punch?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Jack deadpanned. "You have to use HM Cut on them."

I glared at him and said, "I hate you."

"I love you too," Jack replied without missing a beat. "Anyway, no matter what kind of 'Super Bushes' they are, I should be able to teleport through them."

Jack disappeared with a rush of displaced air, but returned a second later with a confused expression.

"Okay," he said. "I went over there, but there was nothing there; I could sense Roy's aura, and the other one too, but it was just an echo. It didn't seem like anyone had been there in a while. I'm not sure what's going on."

I turned to the bushes and shouted, "I COMMAND YOU TO LET ME THROUGH!"

"Dude," Jack deadpanned. "What do you think shouting at the bushes is going to accomplish? They're bushes. Bushes don't have ears."

The bushes started to rustle and then they started disappearing into the ground. Soon they were completely gone.

Jack stared numbly at the retreating foliage. "I've been living a lie…"

I stared in the direction of where the bushes had been; instead there stood Roy and Dialga. Wait, Dialga?!

I stared blankly for a second and said, "What in the world?"

Roy's face lit up as he saw me. "Hi Lucas! Look who I met!"

He ran over to me and grabbed my hand, he didn't seem fazed at all that I had changed back to my divine from. He dragged me over to right in front of Dialga, who looked to be upwards of twenty feet tall and understandably towered over both of us.

I waved weakly. "Hi," I said, "How's it going?"

Dialga smiled. "Greetings, Guardian. It has been some time since we last met, has it not? Young Roy told me that you were well; and I see that you have mastered your ability to change forms."

I nodded. "Yeah, just recently actually."

"That is good to hear," Dialga replied. "You will have need of those forms before long, of that I have no doubt."

I nodded again. "So, I have a couple of questions." I said, "The first one is, why are you here with Roy?"

"He's training me!" Roy said excitedly, "He wants me to be his hair!"

"That's 'heir', Roy," Dialga corrected.

Jack snorted with barely restrained laughter. "Sorry, don't mind me," he said.

"Ah yes," Dialga said, turning his gaze on Jack. "The enigma. I had almost forgotten you; primarily because I wished to…"

Jack furrowed his brow. "I have a 'thing' about cryptic comments; what exactly do you mean by that?"

Dialga sighed. "Arceus might not be overly pleased about me telling you this, but although I can look into the past and future, I am unable to see yours. That is why I called you an enigma; you are the one question I cannot answer. It is a matter of… some embarrassment to me among my legendary brethren…"

Jack nodded. "Okay, that answers my question; and raises a few more in its place, but oh well."

"I must ask," Dialga said, "What was it you found so amusing a second ago?"

Jack immediately began studying the ground. "Oh, nothing."

Dialga gave him a look that clearly said he wasn't convinced, but the Legendary apparently decided not to press the issue.

"Anyway," I said, stepping into the conversation, "What do you mean that you're training Roy to be your heir?"

"I had thought it to be somewhat obvious, but Roy is a Guardian just as you are." he paused to let that sink in. "And because Arceus chose you to become his heir, and eventual successor..."

"Actually," I interrupted, "It's technically a punishment, but do go on."

Dialga scowled at me. "Because Arceus chose you, the other two legendaries of creation have been talking about taking one of the other guardians to be their heir. I shared their view and decided to take a head start. I chose Roy because of how young he is now, which leaves plenty of room for training."

I frowned. "So how long is he going to be training for?"

"That depends greatly on how long it takes for him to learn what he needs to," Dialga said, "It might take him only a few years, or it could take significantly longer."

I furrowed my brow. "How come Roy is getting training? Shouldn't Arceus be training me?"

"You're situation is different from Roy's," Dialga shifted slightly. "You are older, and you still have things which you need to do before your training begins. But trust me, it will happen."

"Well that answers some questions," I said, "But there's one that's been bugging me. Do you remember when Splay captured us?"

Dialga stared at me blankly. "Of course I do, I control time itself."

"Oh right," I said sheepishly. "Anyway, was it you that stopped time when we were escaping and we would've died from that tank?"

Dialga nodded slightly. "Yes, by Arceus's order. He and I both knew that it was not time for you to die."

"I appreciate that," I said.

"Back to the matter at hand," Jack said, drawing everyone's attention to him instantly, "Does this mean that Roy is going to be staying with you to train?"

"Yes," Dialga said. "For now. He is extremely undertrained and isn't even evolved."

I gave him a strange look. "Don't Riolu's evolve by a bond with another person or Pokemon? How is Roy going to evolve if you're the only one he's going to be around?"

Jack facepalmed. "Have you never even seen how close a mentor and their students can grow? Oftentimes, it's a bond every bit as strong as the one between trainer and Pokemon; or even father and son."

"Sorry, Legendaries just don't come across as the most 'bonding types' to me," I said. "It just seems strange that the only contact Roy will have with other living things is going to be Dialga. I mean, I love Ethan and all, but sometimes I just can't handle him."

Jack shrugged. "I get that with Jason all the time; but that's not really the point. Actually… I'm not really sure what the point was; I just thought you were being kinda rude to the Legendary Pokemon of time. Not a wise occupation."

I returned Jack's shrug. "True, I just thought it was something that should be addressed."

"Well," Dialga intervened, "If you are done arguing about what's going to happen to Roy, he still has training to be done."

"When will I see him next?" I asked.

Dialga thought for a moment. "Eventually."

"That wasn't vague at all," I said sarcastically.

"Jack is correct," Dialga said, "You should not mock the Lord of Time."

"You know what." I said, pointing at him, "I think being the heir to Arceus gives me a little more leeway than most others. And considering I've taken care of Roy for some time now, I don't know if I'm entirely ready to let you just take him."

Dialga smirked. "It is not up to you. You may think you're high up with the legendaries, but that's not how being an heir works. You are second only to us, meaning that everyone in the Legend council is your superior. You should treat us as such."

"He's got you there," Jack commented wryly.

I was about to make a smart retort but Acero grabbed my shoulder. "It's not worth it. You'll see Roy again."

I shrugged off his hand and said, "Whatever."

I turned my back on Dialga and walked off back towards the camp.

"You really should be more careful talking to Legendaries like that," Jack said, running to catch up with me. "Especially major ones like the Creation Trio. Not all Legendaries are so forgiving as Dialga was just then."

I huffed, "So what? Just because they're so powerful doesn't mean they just do whatever the heck they want." I paused, "I bet I could've taken him down easy."

"Three words," Jack deadpanned, counting them off on his fingers. "Famous, last, words."

I restrained myself from punching him in the face. "Great," I said angrily, "Who cares! He can't just do whatever he wants, he still has to respect others; even if they are lower than he is."

"But you have to admit," Jack insisted, "Saying that to their faces is probably not going to end well. It's my experience that the best solution is usually the one that involves the least number of people getting eaten."

I looked at him with a confused expression.

"Did you see those teeth?" Jack elaborated jokingly. "Seriously, I would not want to get on the wrong side of those; in more ways than one."

I rolled my eyes, "I'll have to talk to Arceus later or something."

"Probably not the smartest to bring this up," Acero piped up. "It might not go in your favor."

"Sure," I said.

We were getting near the camp and I transformed back into my normal form, with Klang around my broken arm.

As we went back into camp we noticed a helicopter flying over to us. I looked up and saw it go by overhead as it circled around to find a landing place.

I walked a little bit faster as I realized how much I actually missed Ethan; then I remembered my broken arm and I had a little anxiety attack.

The helicopter landed near the camp, and the moment it touched down the doors flew open and a few military soldier piled out, followed quickly by Ethan. He was wearing blue jeans and a red jacket; he also had a black backpack that looked like it was full.

I ran over to Ethan and gave him an awkward hug.

He gave me an extremely confused look. "What did you do this time?" he asked.

I sighed. "I bit off more than I could chew."

Ethan nodded. "I figured as much," He sighed. "This is not going to look good."

"On the plus side, I figured out how to turn back into my divine form thing," I said.

He nodded. "But you're not going to be walking around like that in public. It's only for emergencies that Spl- I mean Quarrel, can't handle."

I frowned. "Gee, thanks," I said sarcastically.

He patted me on the left shoulder. "You're welcome."

We walked over to the camp and I asked, "So, are there supplies coming? And why are there people from the army here?"

"Yes, supplied are coming by ground," Ethan said. "And as for the military, they are more of a scout patrol. they're making sure it's safe to drop stuff off." He scratched his chin, "Although I don't really understand why."

"Is there more military coming?" I was getting a little worried.

"Yeah," Ethan thought for a moment, "Quite a bit actually. Where's Jack?"

"Mostly, right behind you," Jack said, making Ethan jump a little. "I was just passing by, but I heard my name."

"Yeah, anyway, I need you and Lucas to keep an eye on the other people that are coming. There are going to be a ton of people from the army, I'm not totally sure why and it seems a little suspicious to be honest."

Jack nodded. "Actually, I was just on my way to go check them out. I feel like it's a bad idea to have a bunch of humans, especially heavily armed humans, walking around here freely; I mean, most of the citizens are still not completely recovered yet. And I don't think I have to tell you what humans like to do to Pokémon when their health gets low; especially rare Pokémon, like Lucarios."

Ethan put on a worried look. "Yeah. Stay on guard. I am really serious, this is the highest Lucario concentration in all of Kalos, and I was poking around in some of these guys' heads, it's very tempting."

Jack gave Ethan a sideways glance. "You know, there's an old saying; with great power? You ever heard of it? I try not to 'poke around in people's heads' unless absolutely necessary; it might be construed as an invasion of privacy, among other things."

Ethan nodded. "But if you saw the looks on these guys faces, and the feelings that were emanating off of them right before we took off, you would probably get worried."

Jack shrugged. "Okay, point taken. Anyway, if they really are thinking along those lines then we've got to make sure we keep track of all of them; and I do mean all of them. I for one can set up a psychic net around Alazin with some help from Solomon; it'll let me keep constant tabs on the location of everyone inside. And if someone's mind suddenly disappears from the net, I'll know someone got captured; or worse."

I looked at Ethan. "How soon are the rest of them going to be showing up?"

"In a few hours," He replied.

"We should warn everyone about this or something. Because if something does go wrong, I do not want Pokémon attacking Humans."

"Good point," Jack agreed. "But I can't help but think that if the citizens are too suspicious of the soldiers… it might cause more incidents than it prevents; I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I just want to put that out there."

"How about this," I said. "You tell your team, and they can kind of keep an eye out, but we don't need to tell anyone else yet. Not unless something happens."

"Except that sounds like the kind of decision that leads to everything going horribly wrong," Jack said, holding his head.

"Well what's your idea?" I asked frustrated.

Jack sighed. "I don't know; I'm just thinking rings around myself at this point… you should probably just ignore me for now."

"We just won't tell anyone then," Ethan said. "We'll only bring it up if there is an incident and it needs to be dealt with. No one needs to be suspicious and no one needs to know that we already knew this. It can just stay between us."

"What can?" Thomas asked from directly behind Ethan.

Ethan jumped and shouted, "OH MY GOSH!" Ethan turned around quickly, "Why do you do that?"

"Do what?" Thomas asked, completely oblivious. "I do not understand the question."

Ethan waved his hand in a dismissive motion. "Nevermind."

Thomas looked over at Jack. "He waved his hand in a dismissive motion; does that mean I am supposed to leave now?"

"Yeah," Jack replied. "Pretty much. Actually, would you mind rounding up the rest of the team for me? We've got a bit of work to do."

"Certainly," Thomas said, flying off.

"So," Jack continued, turning back to me. "Is that settled then? I'll be central command, and you guys and my team will keep an eye on things from the ground; basically acting as a rapid response team. If I sense trouble, I'll inform whoever's closest and they can handle it from there; maybe in groups or three or something. Sound good?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that sounds best."

Jack sighed. "I still feel like this is going to go horribly wrong somehow…"

"Don't worry," Ethan said. "It probably will."

Jack gave him a sideways glance, then he grinned and let out a lighthearted chuckle. "You know, that's the first comforting thing that's been said in the last five minutes; for a second there I was worried you were going to say some famous last words. Alright then, let's do this thing."

"They should be here in a few hours, so whatever we can do to get ready we should do now." Ethan looked around. "I guess that means you set up your barrier thing."

Jack scratched the back of his head. "It's really more like… radar, I guess; it doesn't keep anybody in, it just lets me see roughly where everybody is without actually establishing a psychic link with them."

Ethan gave him a blank stare, then a thumbs up, "Great, we should get to work."

"Probably a wise choice," Jack deadpanned.

The next twenty minutes were spent in preparation; Jack's team assembled by the castle ruins, and Jack and I gave them a rundown of what was going on. We would split up, as Jack had suggested, into four groups of three; with Quarrel, Ethan, and I on one team, Jason, Thomas, and Ivy on the second, Cap, Katana, and Aura on the third, and Lucy, Wendy, and Acero on the fourth. Solomon and Jack would stay at the ruins of the castle, roughly at the center of the city.

We sat around for about an hour, waiting and talking. Lunch came around and we ate various berries that the camp had gathered; the Kalos military people ate away from us. Eventually the helicopter took off and left the them behind. Around two hours later we could clearly hear the sounds of car engines in the distance.

"From what I can hear, there sounds like a lot of vehicles," I said to Ethan.

Ethan gained another worried look. "Yeah. They're mostly bringing a lot of wood, but there are other things too like steel beams and stuff. It wasn't that hard to convince them to bring extra materials."

Jack furrowed his brow. "Really? Define, 'wasn't that hard'."

Ethan shrugged. "I really don't know why, but they seemed way more willing to give materials away when I asked them."

Jack sighed. "This gets more and more incredible by the second; and by 'incredible', I mean that it doesn't add up and I don't like it."

"I have to agree," I said with a nod. "Why would the government be willing to give away hundreds of dollars worth of building materials to help a 'secret' pokemon civilization just because you asked?"

"I don't want to think that there's something bigger happening, but maybe there is," Ethan said. "They didn't need to send any military personnel, and they agreed to send expensive materials without much of an argument."

"I'm not exactly well-acquainted with the government," Jack commented, "But aren't they supposed to be kinda underhanded?"

Ethan nodded. "I think that's the stereotype with all governments. But yes, sometimes they are a little underhanded."

"Well, there's not much we can do until they get here and get everything unloaded," Jack said with a shrug. "And even then, all we can really do is keep an eye on things; so let's keep as close an eye on things as possible, and maybe we'll find something out that'll help explain all of this weirdness. Sound good?"

"Yeah," I said, "I think they are getting close."

I heard the engines getting louder and then Ethan stood up, when the soldiers stood up and started heading in the sound of the engines, "I think they're here."

Jack and I stood up with Ethan and followed the soldiers.

We saw the trucks long before they came into the camp. When the arrived there were dozens of them. About half of them had giant logs behind them, some had heavy construction equipment, and a few more were carrying steel; lots and lots of steel.

They parked a good ways from the camp, but they weren't alone. They were soon followed by a military convoy in H1 hummers with mounted turrets.

Ethan's worried expression returned. "There is way more stuff here than they promised; and they never said anything about a military group coming. I didn't even know that these few soldiers were coming until I got into the helicopter with them."

"Yeah, this is probably not good," I said.

"I've got to agree with you on that one," Jack replied. "But still, what are we going to do; send them packing? I don't think so, so the only other option is the one we've already decided on; watch, and wait."

Ethan nodded. "I'll go and figure out who's in charge. You two should come with me."

"Good idea," Jack nodded. "Lead on."

We headed towards the military convoy that had parked near the trucks that were carrying all the equipment; they were already setting up their camp.

When we got close a guy in a black suit stepped out from behind one of the Hummers. He had black hair that was slicked back, and a slightly disgusted face.

When he noticed us, his expression brightened and he walked over. He was looking at Ethan specifically and he stuck his hand out. "Hello," he started. "I'm Mark Blackwell,"

Ethan shook his hand. "I'm Ethan Wilson."

"_I don't like this guy,"_ Jack said telepathically. "_I was joking earlier about the government, but this guy really is sleazy…"_

"_Was it his hair that gave it away?" _I said sarcastically.

"_...No,"_ Jack replied, unconvincingly.

"I already knew that," Mark said to Ethan. "My daughter is a huge fan of your's."

"_So he has a daughter," _I said, slightly disappointed. "_We can't mess him up; I can't do that to a little girl. Otherwise, I would seriously break his legs if he made one wrong move." _

Jack gave me a sideways glance. "_Isn't that kinda… extreme? I mean, ouch."_

"_It's okay… I think." _

"Yeah," Ethan replied to Mark, "I have a lot of those. Anyway, I have a few questions."

Mark smiled and said, "Ask whatever you need."

"Well first off, why is the military here? This seems totally unnecessary to me."

"It's for safety measures," Mark paused. "You know, if the the Pokémon start causing problems."

Ethan furrowed his brow. "With guns? Are you serious?" Ethan's disapproval was very evident, and Mark's smile faltered.

"It's just a precaution, they won't be used unless totally necessary."

Ethan didn't seem convinced. "Yeah, anyway, my other question was why are there so many trucks, and there are way more materials than promised. Is something going on that I am not aware of?"

Mark shook his head. "They are just extra's in case there is more to be built than planned for."

Ethan gave another unconvinced look. "Okay, thanks, that's all I needed to know."

He was about to turn but Mark looked at Jack and said, "You must be Jack Storm."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "I see my reputation precedes me. Yes, I'm Jack Storm; pleasure to meet you, Mr. Blackwell."

Mark gave an extremely fake smile. "You have such good manners for... " he paused, "Where you came from."

Jack's face split into a smile that was just as fake as Mark's, but also managed to be more than a little intimidating.

"And you learned that, where?" he asked.

Mark's smile faded. "I work for the government, we generally collaborate with other regions to make sure all..." He paused again, looking for the right word, "anomalies, are accounted for."

Jack nodded, and his smile hardened a little more. "I see; well then, I'll let you get on with… whatever you're here to do. Ethan, Lucas, I'll see you later."

With that, Jack turned on the spot and disappeared with a flash of lightning and a rush of displaced air. My eyes got wide and I looked at Mark, then I looked at Ethan; Ethan looked back at me, and his expression was also one of concern.

"_Dude," _Ethan said, "_This is not good." _

"I'm sure you're busy," Mark said, getting Ethan's attention; he seemed completely oblivious that he had just made the worst enemy ever. "So I'll let you get back to what you were doing. Whatever it was you were doing with your friends over there."

We didn't even respond we just turned and walked off; it took all my willpower not to turn around and lay him out.

"_I'm gonna break his legs," _I said to Ethan. "_I swear." _

Ethan glared at me. "_If you do that…" _He paused, and nodded his approval. "_I would be totally okay with it." _

We arrived back at the camp and started looking for Jack. As if on cue, we heard a sharp cracking sound from over by the ruins; we ran over, to see Jack standing in the middle of a pile of rubble holding a rock the size of his head.

We ran over and I said, "You have my permission to break his legs if you so desire."

Jack shook his head. "No; that would not only be wrong, but it wouldn't solve anything. Well, it wouldn't solve everything."

Jack tossed the rock he was holding up into the air; he waited as it fell back down until it was about at head height. At that point, well… I honestly didn't see what happened; one moment the rock was falling, the next minute it had exploded into a million shards of rock that flew in a shotgun pattern away from Jack. From my point of view, it didn't even look like Jack had moved a muscle; but his right arm was sparking, and his fist was steaming. The look on his face probably could've melted lead.

Ethan took a step back, I stood still and grinned.

"Like I said," Jack continued, "I don't think physical violence will solve anything. Still, he really shouldn't have brought my family into this."

I nodded. "I understand… not really. We should just make sure he isn't up to anything. Just keep an eye out, like we planned."

"I have been," Jack replied. "Nothing out of place has happened so far; everyone is where they should be, and no one's disappeared. I have to admit, I'm trying really hard not to mess with that Mark guy's head right now…"

I gave him a skeptical look. "If you did mess with him, what exactly would you be doing?"

Jack groaned. "Don't even tempt me… According to Solomon, my psychic abilities are beyond anything someone of my age should be capable of. If I wanted to, I could do anything from convincing him that he was a Magikarp, to making him feel like his heart was being ripped out of his chest."

"Oh…" I said. "Yeah that's probably not a good idea."

"Hey," Ethan said, "I just had a thought, apparently these soldiers intend on staying overnight, are we going to have a night watch? Or is there something else that we're doing?"

Jack furrowed his brow. "If I was going to do something dubious, I'd do it under the cover of dark; a night watch is exactly what we're going to have, and I'll be on it. Once I set up the link with Solomon, he can watch it during the day; leaving me to get as much rest as I need after the night shift."

"Are you going to be the only one on the night shift?" I asked, "Cause I would willingly join you."

"I'd be glad of the company," Jack replied. "I think I'll also be drafting Lucy and Thomas to join you; that way we have a full team, and the capability to split up if necessary."

I nodded. "I guess I'll be on the night shift then. And that leaves Ethan on the day shift. Which means you're almost powerless."

Ethan shook his head. "No, not entirely."

Ethan pulled off his backpack and set it on the ground. He undid the zipper and pulled out a pair of blue elbow length gloves.

"Do you remember these? When Darkrai gave them to me?"

I nodded. "Yeah, what do they do exactly?"

"They enhance my ability to use aura; and since I'm a descendant of Aaron, they boost my abilities quite a bit."

Jack folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Sir Aaron… the guy certainly gets around, doesn't he."

"What do you mean by that?" Ethan asked.

"I've heard his name mentioned a few times," Jack replied. "Mostly in old folk tales passed down by word-of-mouth among Lucarios; Sir Aaron and his Lucario, who I guess would be Leonidas, have been heroes of myth and legend to Lucarios for centuries. And I've heard more about him in the last few weeks than in any of the old legends."

Ethan thought for a moment, "Sir Aaron was a knight of Cameran Palace, he was also an aura guardian, these were humans that were able to manipulate aura almost as well as Lucarios; some even better than that. And with the assistance of these rare rocks called Aura Stones, an aura guardian's powers were multiplied. Leonidas was Sir Aaron's student, they grew a close bond which enabled them to perform Fuse Evolution. After the whole Splay incident stuff returned to normal, or as normal as it would ever get, new kingdoms began to rise up in different places; but Cameran Palace managed to stay mostly intact. When wars erupted in far away regions Sir Aaron got worried that they would spread to Cameran. Aaron decided to go and try to end the war, and he told Leonidas that he wouldn't be returning. Leonidas, of course, took this the wrong way and assumed that Aaron was abandoning Cameran to fight for other regions. It ended up that Aaron saved Cameran and ended the war, but at the cost of his own life. He sent a message to Leonidas with a time flower, explaining what had happened and why he had disappeared."

Jack nodded. "I knew most of that already from those legends I told you about, although they didn't mention Leonidas's name; or Splay, or Fuse Evolution… They forgot to mention a lot of stuff, actually."

"Yeah," Ethan said. "I only learned Leonidas's name from when he started showing up. I don't know what happened to everything else. The Fuse evolution stuff was passed down by his descendants, although no one knows who his wife was. I guess everyone just wanted to forget the whole thing with Splay and they destroyed the records of it. He did almost wipe out humanity after all."

Jack was about to respond, most likely with a witty retort, but he was cut off by Jason running over to us with the rest of Jack's team in tow.

"So there you are," Jason exclaimed. "We weren't sure where you guys had gotten to."

"Sorry about disappearing like that," Jack said. "I just had to blow off a little steam after meeting with the leader of those goons in military clothing."

"I take it things didn't go well?" Solomon piped up, floating to the front of the group.

Jack scowled. "You could say that; you could also say that we're going to be setting a night shift as well, as an added precaution. So we're going to have to shuffle the squads around a little. Solomon, that's officially your job; Lucas, Lucy, and Thomas are on the night shift with me. I'm going to go set up the psychic net."

Solomon nodded. "I'll get everything sorted."

* * *

><p>The first day was pretty quiet for my squad; which was weird, considering there were two separate incidents. Jack called in Jason's squad to handle the first one, which turned out to be a simple misunderstanding, and Acero's squad handled the second; in which a soldier actually pulled a couple of Pokéballs on a lone female Lucario in a deserted corner of the city. Thanks to Jack calling for preemptive measures, the soldier never even got to send out his Pokémon.<p>

But then again, it didn't really surprise me; like Jack said, the real trouble probably wouldn't start until after dark. Which was probably why he was keeping my squad away from action until then, seeing as I was the most likely one on the night shift to get tired; between a Dark-type and a robot.

As night fell I began to get a little more anxious. For some reason is was slightly nerve racking to stay up late waiting for someone to make a move.

It was a few hours after the sun had gone down and Jack, Lucy, Thomas, and I were sitting around a fire; the only fire that was left burning throughout the entire camp. The others had gone to bed already, in anticipation of another long day tomorrow.

"It's quiet," Jack commented. "Almost too quiet; I'm only registering a few conscious minds in the city right now, all of them soldiers, but they're all staying within spitting distance of their camp."

"Maybe that one soldier we stopped today went and told the rest that they'd better not try anything," Lucy said hopefully.

"Somehow, I doubt our luck is that good," Jack replied. "I've got a sneaking suspicion that something's going to happen soon."

"How can you tell?" Lucy asked.

Jack tapped his nose. "Call it a hunch; there's a few soldiers I'm keeping an eyes on who… We have a potential situation; one of the soldiers has left their base and is heading towards the residential area," Jack exclaimed suddenly. "Get going, I'll set you on an intercept course."

The three of us didn't waste any time, and started running/floating towards the residential district.

"_They're moving fast," _Jack said over the psychic link-up. "_Two of them, both carrying multiple __Pokéballs. Use caution, I'm pretty sure they're not just out for a late-night stroll."_

Thomas and I continued to charge in a beeline towards the two soldiers, but Jack had Lucy break away and come at them from a different angle; hoping to catch them in a pincer maneuver if necessary.

Thomas and I stopped just outside their line of view as we heard a commotion coming from a nearby tent. Mark Blackwell was standing just outside the tent with a Pokéball in hand and a skarmory right beside him.

A few moments later a shout came from the tent and out came the soldier, dragging a young Riolu behind him kicking and screaming.

The soldier had a pistol drawn and was pointing it at the Riolu as he backed away. The parents came out, the female came out and was completely hysterical. the male was trying stay calm but panic was practically seeping out of him.

The Riolu's kicking and screaming was clearly causing trouble for the soldier and he smacked the Riolu in the head and knocked him out.

The soldier through the Riolu over his shoulder and nodded to Blackwell. That's when I stepped into sight.

My rage at this point could not be contained. I was spilling out aura like it was going out of style.

"What do you think you're up to?" I asked quietly.

Blackwell's eyes flicked over to me. "None of your business Lucario. Now leave before this gets out of hand."

Clearly it was too dark for him to see what I actually looked like, so he didn't recognize who I was.

"No I'm pretty sure it's my business," I growled.

The soldier stopped and let out his own pokemon, a Typhlosion. He motioned to the parents and told his Typhlosion to keep an eye on them.

"We are capturing a Riolu for my daughter," Mark said. "Is it against the law to capture Pokémon?"

My rage grew to a new level. "You what mate?" I said incredulously.

"Excuse me?" Mark said,

I took a step forward and Blackwell got a better look of me, and he laughed, "Your arms broken, do you really think that you could challenge me!"

I looked behind me and Thomas floated up next to me.

"Oh," Blackwell said, "You have a Porygon, I'm shaking in my boots."

I grinned and transformed into my divine form. The night was lit up and everyone was blinded for a second. When Mark looked at me again his jaw dropped. Klang transformed into a sword and settled in my hand. I lifted my sword and pointed it at him.

"If you or your friend here can beat me, I'll let you take the Riolu. But I'm warning you, there is a 0% percent chance of you winning." I paused to let him consider this. "Or, you can just return the Riolu back to his parents and maybe I won't shatter your legs."

Mark set his jaw and scowled at me. "You would be put down for that, attacking a human."

I laughed. "You wouldn't remember what happened, trust me. If you want a Riolu for your daughter, they you can go find one that isn't on protected Pokémon reserve."

"This isn't a Pokémon reserve," Blackwell said. "At least not for long."

He motioned to the soldier to give the Riolu back. The soldier rolled his eyes and muttered something to himself. He walked over and set the Riolu down in front of his parents. The moment he walked away they grabbed their son in a tight hug; even though he was unconscious.

"There," Blackwell said. "I returned the Riolu, I am leaving now."

He started to walk away. "I expect you to be gone by sunrise tomorrow morning," I snarled at him as he left. "You and all your military goons. And I never want to see you here again."

Blackwell turned around and said, "You can't command us, we will be staying here for as long as we like."

"Then I guess I will have no choice but to break your legs," I said, shrugging.

Blackwell huffed and turned around and stalked off, followed by his Skarmory and his soldier, who had put his Typhlosion back in his pokeball.

I watched them leave. They walked right past Lucy, who apparently left them alone.

"Well, that went well," I said sarcastically. "I wonder if they'll actually leave? Maybe I can get Ethan to have a word with someone, or we could contact the inter-pol and see if they can do anything about this."

"_I certainly hope so," _Jack commented telepathically. "_And just for the record; if you'd actually tried to break his legs, I might have stopped you. Maybe."_

"_You couldn't have stopped me," _I paused, "_I don't think so at least; we haven't sparred while I was in this form. And I'm not sure how likely that is to happen." _

"_Not any time soon, I can tell you that much," _Jack replied. "_That form scares me."_

"_Nice," _I said. "_Anyway, we should be heading out now." _

"We are heading back," I said to Lucy and Thomas. Lucy came out from where she was hiding and we headed back to the campfire with Jack.

* * *

><p>and now time for announcement number 2.<p>

Next chapter is infact the last chapter. which means it may also be long, or short, depends on what kind of cliffhanger i want to leave you guys on.

I would like to thank anyone who left reviews and supported this story. it has been very helpful.

If you would like to get an email or something about the sequel follow my profile... this is not a ploy to get you to follow me. (It kind of is though)

Stay... tuned? for the next chapter!


	26. Chapter 25: Homecoming

Well, this is officially the last chapter to Tafe. I guess this is the end... ha, no. I'm just kidding, I have two more sequels planned. The next one will be even better than this one, as the first few chapters will be better. The first couple of chapters were absolutely terrible... I don't know if I should admit that.

Me: Also, a new thing to the next book, I'll be doing this! Where i have pointless conversations with my characters.

Ethan: Did you just call us pointless?

Me: No, I'd never do that... I was, uh, calling this conversation pointless.

Lucas: Yeah right.

Me: Guys come on, you have to give me some credit, right?

Ethan: sure, whatever you say.

Me: I hope you enjoy this chapter, as I convince these two how awesome the sequel's going to be.

Ethan: But this one is so short.

Me: What do you expect from the end chapter? A long epic ending?

Lucas: Kind of, yeah.

Me: Oh, well cry me a river.

* * *

><p>The next morning was interesting to say the least.<p>

First off, when the sun rose I got up and tried to get the military to leave. But to no avail. A few hours later another helicopter showed up, which put everyone in a bad mood. But then we realized that it was the Inter-Pol; and Looker was with them.

Looker walked up to Ethan, who was standing near the helicopter when it landed. I was standing next to Jack and his squad while we watched them exchange a few words.

Looker started walking in the direction of the Military camp and Ethan walked over to us with a grin on his face.

"It seems the Inter-Pol has come to save us," Ethan said. "They're going to kick out all military personnel."

"Really?" I asked. "That's awesome! Now I don't have to go through the trouble of breaking legs!"

Ethan gave me a blank stare. "Don't ever say that again."

Jack cleared his throat. "And how exactly do the 'military personnel' feel about that? I can't imagine they're too pleased..."

Ethan shrugged. "I have no idea, but we can go and see right now if you want to."

"It would help put my mind at ease, at least," Jack replied. "That Blackwell guy doesn't seem like the type to forgive and forget."

"Okay then," Ethan said, "Let's head over."

We walked over to where the military camp was now taking down tents and packing up gear. Looker was talking to Blackwell and another soldier.

"What do you mean we have to leave?" Blackwell shouted as we arrived, "We're on special government business here!"

Looker sighed. "It's not me, I'm just the messenger. If you want to argue with someone, talk to my boss."

"Until I speak with someone higher on this matter we are not leaving!" Blackwell shouted again.

Ethan stepped up next to Looker, "You were saying?" He asked.

"Does the Champion really have that much pushing power in the government?" Jack asked me quietly.

"Almost all Champions have a lot of power in the government," I whispered back. "Take Cynthia for example, she is a very prominent political figure in the Sinnoh government. But there are some regions where the Champion generally doesn't care. I mean, look at Kanto; do you ever hear anything new about Red?"

Jack shook his head. "I've never heard of him at all, actually."

"Oh," I said, "Well he tends to hang out on some mountain and hardly ever interacts with the public."

"I see," Jack replied with a nod, turning his attention back to the scene unfolding in front of us.

"Okay," Ethan said, "I'm pretty sure you'll be talking to someone higher up, that's for sure; but right now, you need to follow the order that's given."

Blackwell through his hands up in the air. "The fact that they even let children intervene with the government is ridiculous."

Ethan rolled his eyes. "Stop trying to change the subject and leave. NOW!"

Blackwell dropped his hands to his sides and turned around without a word. He stepped over to one of the Hummers, opened the door, plopped himself down, and slammed the door behind him.

Looker sighed. "I have to deal with idiots like this on a daily basis."

Ethan turned around, "Well that's settled, we will watch them leave and then we need to head back to Lumiose and get some more stuff figured out." He looked at Jack. "And I think now would be a good time for you to head back to Sinnoh before you're sucked into something else."

Jack nodded. "You're probably right. Splay's gone, the world as we know it is safe once again, and this place isn't going to turn into a hunting grounds for Lucarios; you guys should be able to handle things from here, right?"

"Are you doubting us?" Ethan asked.

"No, of course not," Jack said sarcastically. "I'd never dare express skepticism of your abilities."

Ethan grinned. "Good, because that would be ridiculous. Anyway, I'm going to ask Looker if we can get a ride back with him since he's staying to see these guys out as well. So we should be leaving right after them. Then me and Lucas might be coming back to see how things are going."

"Alright then," Jack said. "I'll round up my team, make one last sweep of the city to make sure the soldiers are actually clearing out completely, and then we'll be heading for the nearest port. It's been a pleasure saving the world with you," he said, holding out his hand to Ethan. "I hope we meet again some day, under slightly less stressful circumstances."

Ethan shook his hand. "If you ever end up becoming the champion of Sinnoh I'm pretty sure we'll meet again."

"And maybe," I said, "If the world ever needs saving again, you can call us or something."

Jack chuckled. "Okay, just promise me one thing."

"What?" I asked.

Jack suddenly became very serious. "Don't ever let power go to your head. Okay?"

I frowned. "Unless I want another broken arm, I don't think you'll have to worry."

Jack nodded, and his grin returned. "Okay, that's a weight off my mind. I really didn't want to have to fight you some day."

"Is that a challenge?" I asked.

Jack blinked. "Uh… no. I like the fabric of reality the way it is, thank you very much."

"Okay then," I said. "Do you want a ride to Coumarine? Or do you think you can get yourself there fine?"

Jack shot a smug smirk at me. "Have you forgotten who you're talking to? The guy who teleports. I'm good for transportation."

I nodded.

"So you don't want to ride in the helicopter?" Ethan asked. "It's pretty great on your first try. Unless you get motion sick, then it kind of sucks."

"I feel it only fair to warn you," Jack said. "If I ride in the helicopter, I _will_ end up driving the helicopter. What you have to ask yourself, is if you really want me driving a helicopter with you in it."

Ethan thought for a moment. "You make a good point. I guess we'll be seeing you then."

"Hopefully," Jack said. "It's been fun hanging out with you guys; except for the part where we almost died of course, but oh well. If I'm ever in the neighborhood, I'll look you up and drop by to say hi; sound good?"

"Of course," Ethan said, "You'll find us in Shalour… maybe."

"I look forward to it," Jack said with a grin. "And on that note, live long and prosper."

With that, Jack disappeared with a rush of displaced air; leaving Ethan and I to prepare for our own departure. After that, it took the Military around an hour to get all packed up and ready to go, giving us plenty of time to find Quarrel and tell him we're leaving.

Then I remembered something. "Should we go looking for Roy?" I asked Ethan.

He shook his head. "He'll be fine, we'll see him again."

I nodded sadly.

The military finally left, then we followed after them in the helicopter about fifteen minutes after.

When we arrived back in Lumiose and no one was waiting for us; it seems that the government had kept our return quiet.

They got us into a small black car that wouldn't draw any attention to us and they drove us to Shalour where the dropped us off in front of the Gym. Ethan, Quarrel, and I stood there for second staring at the building.

"It feels like it's been forever," Ethan said.

"Yeah," I agreed. "It has. I guess so much happened is such little time that it just flew by."

"What is this place?" Quarrel asked.

"It's a Pokemon gym," Ethan said, "Where Trainers come to test their skills and see if they're ready to take on the elite four." He paused. "Apparently I can still understand the whole Pokéspeak thing."

"Well Acero never removed it, it's practically embedded in your aura at this point." I said. "Although I don't even know everything about aura; yet."

We walked up to the door and found that it was locked.

Ethan shrugged. "Maybe she closed up early, or she hasn't even reopened yet."

We walked back to Korrina's house, which still happened to be intact; unlike our house which got burned down.

When we arrived Korrina and Keira were extremely relieved to see we had made it back alive. After some small talk Ethan explained that they will probably be heading back soon to check up on things.

Keira understood and said she was just happy we were safe.

* * *

><p>The next day was hectic. We were suddenly getting all sorts of letters from the government about a range of different matters, like "what happened to Splay?", and "how are we going to form a new Elite Four?".<p>

Ethan read each and everyone, and decided which ones were important.

"How do you think we should make a new Elite Four?" Ethan asked me after the sun had gone down and we were planning for the next few days to help get things reorganized.

"We?" I asked, "This is all on you. You're the Champion after all."

He nodded, "But you're the only one that's done any of the work."

"Yeah, so why should I be the one figuring this out?" I asked,

"You have a point. Maybe we can hold a conference of sorts. A tournament to see what trainers in Kalos have what it takes. And then we can train them or something." Ethan suggested.

"Sounds like a plan." I said standing up, "We should head to bed now, it's kind of late."

Ethan nodded, "Good idea,"

That night I laid awake for a while thinking about what a stressful life this was going to be from now on.

* * *

><p><strong>2 WEEKS LATER<strong>

* * *

><p>Having been back home for two weeks, life started to get some what normal. Ethan still had around 15 cameras in his face whenever he went in public. But he had made his announcement for the tournament he was hosting for who would become the next Elite Four.<p>

When word got out, people start flocking from all corners of Kalos. Hundreds of people entered, giving Ethan and I a headache on how long this would take. And even now, we were still trying to find a good place to actually have the battles.

One day, while we were looking at a map on Ethan's computer looking for a place that had an stadium we could use, when Ethan's mom walked in with the mail and handed Ethan a single letter.

It had been a few days since he had gotten any mail and having just one was odd.

He looked at the return address; World Wide Trainer Society or the WWTS. They were a fairly new organization that started out of a trainer academy. They kept trying to hold world tournaments every year, so far they've only had two, and neither of them have had very good turnouts.

Ethan ripped open the letter and read the contents.

"They've invited me to join their next tournament." He looked at me, "Should we go? I mean, it's in like a year, we'd have plenty of time to prepare."

I shrugged. "Why not. Does it say anything about a certain team size?"

Ethan looked over the letter again. "Nope, I just have to have a Pokemon at all."

"So you can take me and Quarrel and we'd be good, right?" I asked.

"I assume so. So it's a plan, we'll train for a year, then we'll attend this tournament."

"Great," I said.

After that we went back to looking at the map.

* * *

><p>I hope you somewhat enjoyed that. This is more of a way to kind of lead into the next book. Which the name will be announced when it comes out. So if you like this one, and you really want to read the next one, because it will be freaking awesome, then you should follow my profile.<p>

Ethan: This is, of course, a way for him to get more followers!

Me: Shut up.

Lucas: But isn't that what it is?

Me: ... kind of.

Lucas: So I was right?

Me...

Ethan: It's okay, I understand.

Me: really?

Ethan: No.

Me: anyway, This being the last Chapter of TAFE i guess i should say something. This story is about a year and a half old, and I never really noticed. I would like the thank anyone who read this and supported it. Especially Jack Storm 448. I probably give him too much credit but I think he deserves it. He was extremely helpful in making this story better. otherwise, it might have been different; and not in the good way.

See you next time I guess.


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